On a recent Sunday, Giannie and José Vidal’s family was hanging out at their store, sipping boba and drip coffee and rummaging through the racks. It was the only way to see the couple lately. Since opening Thrift n’ Sip a few weeks ago, the Vidals haven’t taken a single day off — and don’t plan to anytime soon.
This idea for the business took shape after one of Giannie’s thrifting sprees earlier this year. She’d gone alone that day — her husband had a strict two-hour limit to wait while she browsed for nearly a full workday, stopping only when hungry. When José got home from work, Giannie shared a brainstorm: a thrift store with a cafe. If customers could stay fed and caffeinated while shopping, they wouldn’t need a big food break.
Aug. 17 is National Thrift Shop Day, and the explosion of these stores across the country is fueled largely by stores like this. Some estimates put the number of secondhand shops in the United States at more than 25,000. An analysis earlier this year — which combined thrift store counts with Yelp reviews and survey responses — ranked New York City the best city to thrift. At the time, the city led the country with 178 thrift stores.
José, who already had a successful personal training and lifestyle coaching business, saw more than a good idea. “Money signs started going up in my head,” he said.
The eventual business — Thrift n’ Sip Cafe — just made sense. After all, Giannie wasn’t just an avid thrifter; she had an eye for style.
But that flair came hard-won. Growing up, Giannie hated shopping so much her mom did it for her. At 21, she moved out without even knowing her bra size. Years later, things shifted. She was working as a paraprofessional, a job that could be exhausting. Students sometimes lashed out physically, parents brushed off concerns and school leadership rarely stepped in. “It was just too much,” she said.
Shopping became her escape, a way to spark joy and uncover her own style. She turned to thrifting almost out of necessity. “All the clothes nowadays, they’re too short or too revealing,” Giannie said. “I was like, ‘I don’t dress like that. I don’t like that.’” Browsing thrift store racks allowed her to find pieces that truly felt like her. Before long, strangers were stopping her on the street to compliment her style.
“She makes something out of nothing — she could see a $20 outfit and make it look like $200,” José said.
Finding and shaping the right spot
Giannie’s careful eye shows in every corner, from the fixtures to the pink neon signs. She wanted to bring a more elevated thrifting vibe to the lackluster shops along Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill.
“Every other thrift store that we went to was kind of grungy looking; it looked like a dungeon,” José said. Hers would be a cozy spot where people could hang out without needing to look over their shoulder.
They moved fast. Around Giannie’s birthday in February, they were already scouting locations. Several didn’t feel right. Then one day in March, they stepped into a Richmond Hill storefront José had once considered for his personal training studio. It wasn’t far from the gym he works at. However, the floor couldn’t hold up the weight equipment he would bring in, so he had passed on it.
This time, Giannie looked around and said, “I want it.” Two days later, they had a contractor. The construction was finished by June. On July 20, Thrift n’ Sip Café opened its doors to an overwhelming show of support.
Giannie personally curated clothing donations from the community and styled the space, from rugs to chandeliers. Her attention to detail shows in everything from thrifted racks spaced perfectly for browsing to a grass wall glowing with the neon motto, ‘Sip Slow, Thrift Bold.’
“When people come in here, their jaw drops,” José said. “The certain way that she has the feng shui of the store … everything is just easy and accessible.”
The business of boba
José was committed to helping Giannie’s dream thrive. She had taken the leap, quitting her yearslong job as a paraprofessional in the DOE to devote herself to it. So he would do his part: while she curated the store, José took on the café side. He wasn’t a barista, but he was a serious coffee lover. “I’m Dominican … we drink coffee to go to sleep,” he said.
An insurance representative advised them to consider selling bubble tea. More dollar signs went up for José. He knew how popular the drink was; he would learn to make the boba from scratch.
José signed up for an online boba-making course, spent nights testing recipes and built a menu that blended indulgence with wellness: fruity teas with mango, passion fruit and strawberry, creamy matchas and taros. He also introduced guilt-free protein boba drinks for fellow fitness folks.
Bumps on the road
But building the café wasn’t as smooth as the boba. “It’s been a … great journey, a lot of bumps in the road,” Giannie has said.
Before the opening, everything that could break, broke. A fridge failed. The espresso grinder was so slow it took five minutes per shot. José found a better machine. Instruction manuals came in Chinese — so he and his wife used Google Translate, and one page at a time, just figured it out.
On top of that, the walls weren’t exactly how Giannie wanted. The paint job was unfinished, done before the floors, leaving big blobs of paint that couldn’t be removed. “I was very mad — but at the end of the day, I’m like, ‘what am I going to do?’” Giannie said. “We just have to keep going.” She covered the flaws with creative fixes. She also plans to add more artwork, another chance to make every corner reflect her style.
José also had to figure out how to source their freshly baked goods. The logistics of working with their initial pick for a baker didn’t make sense — it would have required early-morning pickups that didn’t fit their schedule. Instead, at the recommendation from the owners of the gym he trains in, José connected with a baking company in New Jersey. This new vendor already had a delivery route in Maspeth, not far from Thrift n’ Sip.
José is still a full-time personal trainer, waking up before dawn, squeezing in client sessions before the café opens, cleaning the space after hours and working out in between.
He credits the work ethic to his dad, a former bodega owner who went on to drive a Little Debbie truck and own his delivery route. His father taught him to live so that “any job that I do, I try to do it as best as possible, so it makes it even more worthwhile,” José said.
It didn’t hurt that his mom was their first personal trainer of sorts, sometimes pushing him and his siblings to run five miles. “When you see your kids happy, married, and doing well, that’s something special — it shows all the hard work wasn’t for nothing,” Maria Vidal said in Spanish.
Running the business together
Working with your partner every day isn’t for everyone, but for them, it works. They’ve texted each other every day since 2019. They know how to support each other and not get in each other’s way.
Giannie’s 16-year-old son, Isaiah, has been pitching in too — mostly testing and making their signature milk bubble teas. José says Isaiah is practically a boba pro. “Working here is actually really fun — not to sound cheesy or anything — because it’s also like hanging out with my parents,” Isaiah said.
He especially enjoys the fast pace of working with José behind the counter, making drinks and passing things back and forth, which brings a different kind of energy.
Along the way, he says he’s learned patience with both customers and himself. “I’m not trying not to mess up drinks — and if I do, then just water under the bridge,” Isaiah said. “Just redo and make it better.”
A few weeks after opening, they’re already planning their next move: activating the backyard for community events like poetry nights, sip-and-paint sessions, maybe even yoga or live music. Giannie and José are also exploring upcycling projects and donation-based shopping.
Advice for startup businesses
For people dreaming of also opening their own business, José doesn’t sugarcoat the work — he advises them to just start.
“The more you wait … we were like, ‘oh, this has to be perfect; that has to be correct,’ then we’re just gonna be just building up payments and building up payments,” he said. “You just be shooting yourself in the foot. Now we’re just learning as we go still, but doing it as perfectly or imperfectly as we can, and making it great.”
His dad echoes this philosophy: “There are a lot of people who say, ‘no, I’m not going in the water because I don’t know how to swim,’ ” Alfredo Vidal said in Spanish. “But if you don’t go in, you won’t learn how to swim.”
On a practical note, when hiring a general contractor, “don’t go cheap, or you’ll pay the price,” Giannie said. You need someone reliable who does the job your way. If you can, be there to oversee the work and ensure it’s done right and by the book.
Finally, trust your team. Giannie and José don’t micromanage. She’s the owner and visionary; he’s the manager who supports and executes. That kind of mutual respect, he says, makes all the difference. So does communication, especially from Giannie, who once struggled to express her needs: “If I don’t like something, then I’ll just let him know,” she said.
If you’re in Queens, their invitation is simple: “If it’s your cup of tea — no pun intended — come and take a sip,” José said. “If you like thrifting, come and buy a shirt.”
123-19 Jamaica Ave., Richmond Hill, NY 11418
Open Mon-Sat from 11 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sun from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
(718) 374-3055
Follow on Instagram at @thriftnsip_cafe
