We have reached that time of year for kids to head back to school, which means it’s also time for back-to-school shopping for many of us. Shopping at local thrift shops is a great way to fill up the kiddos’ closets before classes are back in session.
One major benefit of buying clothing second-hand is the environmental impact; when you buy used clothing, you are extending the life of those clothes rather than seeing them end up in a landfill. Thrift shopping is also often more economical than buying new. With kids growing and experimenting with their style, thrifting is an excellent way to stretch your dollar further.
Vancouver is home to some fantastic thrift shops where you can stock up your closet in style. Check out one of the locations below to see what secondhand treasures await.
4Ever Growing Kids Consignment
Location: 440 NE 4th Ave., Camas, (Route 92)
4Ever Growing Kids Consignment offers children’s clothing, toys, and accessories. It also carries maternity wear if Mom is in the market for clothes for herself.
Chic Boutique
Location: 7811 NE Highway 99, Vancouver (Routes 71, 78)
Chic Boutique is a great spot to check out for women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing sizes. There are options for everyone, making it a one-stop-shop for families looking for clothing for all ages.
Deja Vu Consignment Boutique
Location: 16111 SE McGillivray Blvd., Vancouver (Routes 30, 37, 80)
Careful curation goes into the clothing selection at Deja Vu. It has a variety of high-end women’s clothing and accessories, if you’re in the market for something extra special.
Kidz Cloz
Location: 604 E Main St., Battle Ground (Route 7)
Kidz Cloz has been in business for almost 30 years. As a longtime Battle Ground storefront, the store has made it a point to give back to its community by supporting local groups such as the North County Food Bank, Battle Ground High School, and Share House. The inventory isn’t just limited to kids’ clothing—you can also find items for women, men and juniors as well.
Little Bo-Tique
Location: 7708 NE Hazel Dell Ave., Vancouver (Route 32)
Little Bo-Tique started out selling maternity and children’s clothing, but has expanded its selection to include shoes, purses, furniture and décor. The store also supports local artists by carrying their items ranging from burp cloths to pottery.
Mommy & Me Resale
Location: 316 SE 123rd Ave., D8, Vancouver (Route 37)
Mommy & Me was formed by a mother-daughter duo that originally opened an e-commerce store. After about a year, they opened their brick-and-mortar storefront where they sell gently used women and children’s clothing. Mommy & Me has maintained an online store as well if you’d prefer shopping through the website.
Pipsqueak Resale Boutique
Location: 8700 NE Vancouver Mall Drive, Vancouver (Routes 7, 32, 72, 74, 78, 80, Vine)
Pipsqueak Resale Boutique describes itself as selling recycled, gently loved, name-brand kids’ clothing, baby furniture and toys. The store is conveniently located in the Vancouver Mall, a perfect spot to visit if you’re already going back to school shopping there.
Secondhand Solutions Thrift Store
Location: 915 W 13th St., Vancouver (Route 25)
Secondhand Solutions carries a little bit of everything and is run by Open House Ministries residents and volunteers. Open House Ministries is a family shelter in Vancouver, and Secondhand Solutions helps serve as a way for residents to train and learn new skills. Every Monday is Children’s Day, which means 50% off kids’ clothing and equipment.
Tiny Hinys
Location: 10910 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver (Routes 7, 74, 80)
Tiny Hinys carries baby, children’s and maternity clothing, in addition to furniture and other gear. It also has a photographer on staff and plenty of photo props if you are looking for a fun way to document your child’s growth.
Urban Eccentric
Location: 2309 Main St., Vancouver (Routes 2, 31, 71)
If you have an older kid or teenager looking for unique clothes they can’t find elsewhere, check out Urban Eccentric. It carries vintage pieces that span decades. If you’re more of an online shopper, Urban Eccentric also has an Etsy page where you can check out select inventory.
Vancouver, WA: A new partnership between C-TRAN and Transit, North America’s leading mobility app, means C-TRAN riders have a go-to option for real-time travel information in Clark County and Portland.
Transit is now C-TRAN’s official mobile app for trip planning and real-time information. It provides a powerful tool that makes travel seamless for users across multiple modes. Among its features for C-TRAN riders:
- Up-to-the-minute arrival times for every C-TRAN route at any stop, based on the actual location of the vehicle
- An easy-to-use trip planning tool to get you to your destination quickly and efficiently
- Step-by-step directions on the fly using Transit’s “GO” feature, so you’ll know where to get on and off
- Real-time info from other transit systems and services in more than 300 cities, so C-TRAN riders are covered no matter where they travel
- Saved favorite routes and locations for easy access to alerts and directions
- C-TRAN-specific rider alerts within the app, customizable to the routes you’re interested in
- Transit is available to download in the Apple app store and Google Play. Thousands of C-TRAN riders already use Transit, and the new C-TRAN/Transit partnership adds new features that will benefit current and future users.
“C-TRAN is committed to providing the best service we can for Clark County, and that means putting the best information we can directly into riders’ hands,” said Shawn M. Donaghy, C-TRAN’s Chief Executive Officer. “This partnership with Transit makes it even easier to access our service and keep Clark County moving.”
“Partnering with a single app that prioritizes transit makes it clear to riders where they can go for information,” said David Block Schachter, Chief Business Officer of Transit. “We’re excited to work with C-TRAN to give riders a top-rated app experience to plan their trips and track their rides throughout Clark County and Portland.”
More details about Transit, including links to download the app, are available at transitapp.com.
Transit is only one of the tools C-TRAN uses to deliver service information to riders. Starting this month, C-TRAN is also rolling out a dedicated Twitter feed for all service alerts in one place. Twitter users can follow @ctran_alerts to see all service-related impacts in one place, and expanded hours for service-related tweets starting in 2022. C-TRAN will continue to use the main @ctranvancouver Twitter account for news, features and major service announcements
C-TRAN is the regional public transportation provider for Clark County. It offers Local bus service within its Clark County service area, plus Regional and Express bus service to Portland. It also provides Connector service within the city limits of Vancouver, Camas, La Center, and Ridgefield. For more information on C-TRAN please visit C-TRAN’s website at www.c-tran.com, or call Customer Service at 360-695-0123.
Transit solves the urban commute in more than 300 cities worldwide. Users can easily navigate public transit with accurate real-time predictions, simple trip planning, step-by-step navigation and quick, easy payments. The app also integrates additional transport modes—bikeshare, scooters, carshare and ridehail—so users can mix and match their options with public transit to determine the best way to get from A to B. The company is based in Montreal, Quebec. Learn more by visiting www.transitapp.com.
Contact:
Eric Florip, Assistant Manager of Customer Experience and Communication, C-TRAN
360-906-7391 Office
eric.florip@c-tran.org
Pending approval by the Board of Directors, C-TRAN plans to implement several service adjustments in 2022 that reflect changes in rider demand and represent an overall improvement in efficiency and cost effectiveness. If approved, the following changes would take place in January.
Book a Ride/Share a Ride: Connector to be Modernized
Our new microtransit service replaces Connector with on-demand, point-to-point, shared-vehicle service using a smartphone application (or calling a C-TRAN customer service agent) that puts the customer in control. Everyone can use microtransit to travel to any destination within the defined service area, including trips to school, family trips to the grocery store, to get to work, or to connect with nearby transit centers or transfer stops. Similar to that of other existing rideshare programs, this new service provides customers with a real-time map display of their driver’s location with estimated arrival time, all while utilizing current C-TRAN vehicles at the fixed price of a C-TRAN Local fare.
- Monday–Friday, 5:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
- Vehicles always on-demand (no fixed times)
- Travel anywhere in the microtransit service area; connect with nearby transit centers or transfer stops
- Always a fixed price—C-TRAN’s Local fare
- C-TRAN operator and vehicle for every trip
| Port of Vancouver |
New zone provides service to the Port of Vancouver and surrounding industrial area, west of the Vancouver rail yard and train station from 5:30–8:30 a.m. and 2:00–6:00 p.m., weekdays.
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| La Center & Ridgefield |
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| WSU-Vancouver/ Salmon Creek |
New zone provides direct connections to WSU- |
| Rose Village |
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| Camas/Washougal |
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Changes to Local and Express bus service
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Route 48 |
New fixed-route service between Ridgefield Park & Ride and 99th Street Transit Center.
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| Route 74 East Fourth Plain |
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| Route 105 I-5 Express |
Reroute service through popular transfer locations in Rose Quarter, as well as residential and employment areas in Old Town Chinatown.
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Route 157 |
Route to be discontinued due to recent and projected shifts in travel patterns. Service to the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District will be maintained with changes to Route 105. |
| Route 164 Fisher’s Landing Express |
Balance trips to better match rider demand, and add earlier, new midday and later trips to accommodate changing work schedules.
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Route 177 |
Route to be discontinued. Service was suspended in March 2020, and Evergreen Park & Ride is currently used as a Safe Park location, operated by the City of Vancouver. |
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Route 134 Route 199 |
Routes consolidated into Route 105 (see details and map for Route 105 I-5 Express). |
- August 20, 2021 Update
Face coverings still required by state and federal mandate
On May 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines for face coverings. People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer required to wear masks or maintain physical distancing in many cases, except where required by federal, state or local rules. Current federal and state mandates still require face coverings on public transportation through January 18, 2022. As such, face coverings must be worn at all times on board C-TRAN buses or at any transit center.
We remain committed to keeping our passengers and employees safe. For more information on Washington’s current health guidelines and requirements, visit www.coronavirus.wa.gov.
How Buses Are Cleaned
C-TRAN’s vehicle service workers are the team that works behind the scenes to clean our entire fleet of buses every night. We also have additional workers out on transit center platforms during the day to clean and disinfect buses in between trips while they're in service.
Take a look behind the scenes (video from March 2020):
C-TRAN has used Bus on Shoulder lanes since they were first implemented in Clark County in 2017. The concept allows transit vehicles to use the shoulder of a given corridor to bypass traffic during times of heavy congestion. It creates faster travel times for buses and more reliable transit service for our region’s commuters.
(Bus on Shoulder: Frequently Asked Questions)
There are limitations:
- For a bus to use the shoulder, the overall speed of traffic must be less than 35 mph.
- While using the shoulder, buses are only allowed to go up to 15 mph faster than other traffic, to a maximum speed of 35 mph.
- Priority for shoulder use is always given to emergency vehicles, stalls or breakdowns.
Bus-only shoulder lanes are currently in use on three freeway corridors in the region: State Route 14, Interstate 5 and Interstate 205.
State Route 14
Location: SR 14 between SE 164th Avenue and Interstate 205, Vancouver
Direction: Eastbound and westbound
Primary C-TRAN routes on corridor: 41, 65, 67, 164
Implemented: 2017
Status: Permanent
Interstate 5
Location: I-5 between 99th Street and the Interstate Bridge, Vancouver
Direction: Southbound
Primary C-TRAN routes on corridor: 105, 134, 157, 199
Implemented: 2020
Status: Permanent
Interstate 205
Location: I-205 across the Glenn Jackson Bridge, Vancouver/Portland
Direction: Northbound and southbound
Primary C-TRAN routes on corridor: 65, 67, 164, 177
Implemented: 2020
Status: Pilot