Vintage thrift store Time After Time closes after 33 years in Chapel Hill

The clock has struck midnight on Time After Time.

The vintage clothing store will close on April 15.

Ann Jackson , co-owner of Time After Time, said the decision was made for personal, not business, reasons.

“I just felt it was time to retire,” said Jackson. “It has nothing to do with the business side, we want to go out on top.”

Jackson and her husband, Steven Schrenzel , have owned the store since they moved to Chapel Hill in 1981.

Jackson said the times are changing on Franklin Street and those changes were reflected in the offerings of the store.

“Originally we started off selling more punk rock and alternative stuff,” Jackson said.

“Now, it’s become more costumes and a lot of T-shirts.”

Jackson said that she and Schrenzel picked Chapel Hill because it was between her home in East Tennessee and his home in New York.

“We drove down here on a warm March day and saw all of the stuff going on and just decided it was the place we were going to be,” Jackson said.

Over the next three decades many said that Time After Time became a part of the landscape in Chapel Hill.

Lizzie Baldwin , a Chapel Hill native, remembers frequenting the store as a kid.

“It was always cluttered, but that made it awesome,” Baldwin said. “I always used to get my Halloween costumes from there, every year.”

Baldwin said it was her initial exposure to vintage and thrift clothing which lead to her working at Rumors , another thrift store that recently opened in Chapel Hill.

Marshe Wyche , owner of Rumors, said she felt sad when she heard Time After Time was closing.

“Time After Time is an important part of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, it’s an institution,” Wyche said.

She also said the closing would not impact her business significantly because most of Rumors’ business is online and wholesale.

Justin Smith , an employee at Clothing Warehouse on East Franklin Street , said he did not expect repercussions for the business, which also resells vintage clothes like Time After Time does.

“Each of the resale stores around here have our own crowd, our own niche, so I don’t think it will affect us too much,” Smith said.

Jackson said she expects to continue selling clothes on the internet because it is her hobby and keeps her busy.

She said since the announcement of the closing, she has seen an outpouring from the community — but time marches on.

“Its been like one long funeral, people keep coming in saying how sad it is that we’re closing,” Jackson said. “But, things got to change, that’s the way it always goes.”

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