AMHERST — A consignment store to serve college campuses, offering inexpensive clothes and low-priced household items, was an idea hatched by students in a University of Massachusetts classroom.

First broaching the idea and then testing it out on campus over the past year, founders Grant Cooney and Jack Mandy, both seniors at UMass, and sophomore Manny Baczewski last October started up X-Change Thrift and Consignment at 48 North Pleasant St., a 1,300-square-foot basement storefront where a bookstore had previously been located.

“We price things to value,” said Baczewski, the store manager. “Every item is unique, and some are pretty old.”

But with many of the articles of clothing, from blue jeans to T-shirts, in the $8 to $10 range, they are likely to be sold for less than at big box stores. That is the draw of what Baczewski said is a “curated thrift store” whose founders also recognize clothing trends.

Sourced primarily from wholesalers and some raghouses, the inventory is in the hundreds of articles of clothing.

“We’re taking the hustle out of it and marking it up just a little bit,” Baczewski said. “Our goal is to make it as user friendly as possible.”

The concept for X-Change came about when Mandy, a senior finance major who transferred to UMass from a community college, caught up with Cooney, a senior management major who went to high school with Mandy in Sandwich. Cooney’s father had previously started a sustainable beach fashion company.

They came together to develop the business idea through events put on by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at the Isenberg School for Management.

“As we did pitch competitions, we got a lot of great advice from the judges,” Mandy said.

Mandy said a lot of market research was also done, through which they realized that opening a store in Amherst was not only possible, but would be financially feasible to pay the rent and salaries and cover any other overhead. “We never stopped trying to get this store open,” Mandy said.

By December 2023, they had tested the market and continued going to events, selling cheap clothes to build capital, including pop-up events on Cape Cod, as well winning more funding from the monetary prizes at pitch competitions.

Baczewski, a management and hospitality and tourism management double major, then joined up when he met Cooney in an Introduction to Entrepreneurshop class and learned about his idea for creating a consignment store for college campuses.

Together, the three founders also did one big event, at the Ballroom at the Student Union at UMass, selling a good number of clothes there.

Getting the business up and running, the founders got used racks that hold the articles of clothing, and took repurposed shelves left behind by the bookstore. The clothing is separated between the men’s and women’s apparel and organized. For women, there are tops, sweatshirts, sweaters, dresses, skirts, formal wear, sleep wear, leggings, sweatpants pants and jeans. For men, there are dress shirts, flannels, polos, sweatshirts, button ups, suit coats, shorts, sleepwear and pants and jeans. There are no undergarments.

Some shoes are in the store, though shelves that will be positioned above the racks aren’t in place yet.

A few high-end products can sell for $30 to $50, “Some good items have to be sold for higher prices,” Baczewski said.

The store also has cheap jewelry, belts for $5 and trunks filled with items like pocketbooks, coach bags and designer handbags, scarves, hats and gloves, and there even some vintage magazines and record albums.

So far, the founders have found that T-shirts for all genders, some with the current or vintage UMass logos, and women’s jackets are the big sellers. “T-shirts are always a staple, and jeans are always going to sell,” Baczewski said.

A unique tagging system and bar code tracks each item. “We try to make it as easy as possible,” Baczewski said.

An expansion of the business includes offering a junk removal service that is allowing them to have new access to the secondhand market. The business also has storage space upstairs in the Tucker Taft building that previously was an office, rather than traveling to a storage unit in Belchertown. “That’s extremely convenient for us now,” Mandy said.

While clothes will always be the primary merchandise, there are some antique items and inexpensive cookware, like cheap pots and pans that students are always wanting to buy.

Rental booth space is available, too, and already features lotions, plants, crafts and one vendor with a unique clothing brand and another specializing in Y2K clothing.

Since opening, Mandy, Cooney and Baczewski have found synergy with the neighboring Ten One Tea House, which also has a good number of college and high school students, and while in the basement there is an outdoor patio that can be used when the weather is nice to display and sales.

“We’re lucky to have them as a neighbor,” Mandy said, observing there are no signs on the building and a sandwich board sign is not allowed on the sidewalk. “This has been strictly foot traffic, so far, and they’ve helped us out a lot.”

X-Change has also built a relationship with the nearby Mass Vintage, across the street on Boltwood Walk.

Already with six employees to staff from Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 8 p.m., with Wednesdays restock days and busy mornings as people hunt for bargains, and student discounts on Thursdays, with a smaller restock on Fridays.

Mandy and Cooney will be graduating this spring, but their intent is to stay in Amherst at least for the summer and to continue overseeing the store. Mandy said he would love to expand X-Change so stores can open on the Cape and eventually in Boston.

“We have built a template to carry on,” Baczewski said. “The store can somewhat run on its own now.”

Baczewski, who grew up in Ashburnham, recalls visits to Amherst with his family as a child, often capping those by getting a slice of pizza at Antonio’s. “Being across from Antonio’s is surreal, a cool, full-circle moment,” Baczewski said.

He anticipates that as more people learn about the store, its eco-friendly aspects, ensuring that textiles are not ending up in the landfill, will be a draw.

“The trend of buying used items is only increasing, for both Baby Boomers and my generation, too,” Baczewski said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.