Meet Sabrina Cates Pytron Parker | Owners of Shelly’s Vintage

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sabrina Cates Pytron Parker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sabrina Cates, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Shelly’s Vintage is the pioneer of a “Name Your Price” Vintage brand that exists to provide people with one-of-a-kind vintage items, from different eras, found all over the world. Shelly’s Vintage specializes in vintage interior design and we curate experiences of healing, authenticity, community, and self-discovery through styling, photoshoots, and event planning.

My partner and co-founder, Pytron, and I have a captivating story about our unique partnership. Emerging from nearly mirrored upbringings, both Pytron and I found ourselves interconnected, sharing similar passions for the arts, thrifting, exploration, service, fashion, traveling, and – perhaps most the parallel – the commonality of the loss of the most influential women of our lives, both our mothers at the age of eleven years old. These two women, who never met before shared the same nickname “Shelly’ – Shelly’s Vintage was created in their honor.

This was our thought process when we started our business. We wanted to pay homage to and honor these two women, our mothers Rachelle “Shelly” Cates and Michelle “Shelly” Parker who never met before and shared the same nickname “Shelly” because they planted in us both at young ages the art of thrifting and how to appreciate the value in all things, even if some considered it to be trash. Our mothers both taught us the importance of sustainability and how to treasure the quality of things that came from decades past; they taught us the value of paying homage to what our ancestors wore and passed down from generation to generation; they taught us how to be of service to our community and our families.

Who do we do it for? “It’s bigger than us” We have always worked to build others’ dreams, so now with Shelly’s Vintage — we are focused on creating a legacy of our own. We do it for our community of unique individuals who choose to stand out and honor the art, importance, and history of thrifting. We do it for those fairly new to thrifting but dare to explore. We do it for our ancestors, for the shoulders we stand on that fought so hard just for us to be able to live this dream and share our gifts with the world. We do it for ourselves, we love what we have created with Shelly’s Vintage and it never feels like work. “It’s bigger than us”. This is an affirmation and a reminder that we created this business to build generational wealth, heal generational trauma, and have the resources to create job opportunities for our family.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Shelly’s Vintage is a multifaceted brand that has three major components to our business. We provide our customers with a new shopping encounter, by being pioneers of a “Name Your Price” vintage shop that allows consumers to feel empowered by navigating their budget, while being able to buy some of the rarest, one-of-a-kind vintage items from different eras, found all over the world. Shelly’s Vintage specializes in vintage interior design where we hunt for vintage furniture and decor from antique stores to create spaces for our supporters that are centered around the energy and feeling our customers want to experience in their homes, businesses, or offices. We also curate experiences of healing, authenticity, community, and self-discovery through styling, photoshoots, event planning, and more.

Many say that there’s divine light and an immersive feeling of love when experiencing Shelly’s Vintage. My partner and co-founder, Pytron, and I have a captivating story about our unique partnership. Emerging from nearly mirrored upbringings, both Pytron and I found ourselves interconnected, sharing similar passions for the arts, thrifting, exploration, service, fashion, traveling, and – perhaps the most parallel – the commonality of the loss of the most influential women of our lives, both our mothers at the age of eleven years old. Our business, Shelly’s Vintage was created in their honor.

These two women, our mothers Rachelle “Shelly” Cates and Michelle “Shelly” Parker who never met before, yet shared the same nickname “Shelly” planted in us both at young ages the art of thrifting and how to appreciate the value in all things, even if some considered it to be trash. Our mothers both taught us the importance of sustainability and how to treasure the quality of things that came from decades past; they taught us the value of paying homage to what our ancestors wore and passed down from generation to generation; they taught us how to be of service to our community and our families.

Who do we do it for? “It’s bigger than us” We have always worked to build others’ dreams, so now with Shelly’s Vintage — we are focused on creating a legacy of our own. We do it for our community of unique individuals who choose to stand out and honor the art, importance, and history of thrifting. We do it for those fairly new to thrifting but dare to explore. We do it for our ancestors, for the shoulders we stand on that fought so hard just for us to be able to live this dream and share our gifts with the world. We do it for ourselves, we love what we have created with Shelly’s Vintage and it never feels like work. “It’s bigger than us”. This is an affirmation and a reminder that we created this business to build generational wealth, heal generational trauma, and have the resources to create job opportunities for our family.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If one of our best friends were coming to the area for a week and we had to show them our favorite places to go, we would take them to:

The Works in Upper Eastside where we would shop, dine and unwind.
We are both lovers of nature and all things that connect us to the heart of the earth, so we would take them to Sweetwater State Park and Victory Creek Waterfall.
We would take them to one of the cool theatre shows that are playing right now.
Take a stroll in Ponce City Market to check out all the cool shops and eats, especially The Village Retail ATL
Because we love skating, we would take them to Cascade or to Pullman Yards for a night of skating.
We would go hang out at the Painted Pin to get our boll on and play games.
We would take them to Who’s Got Soul? for some of the best Soul Food in town!
We would also have them stop by What Cha Cooking Baby? A New Orleans-style food truck that is sure to knock your taste buds off.

and that’s about it. We are pretty homebodies in Atlanta and we mostly travel and explore other countries.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to Shoutout first: Our mothers Rachelle Cates and Michelle Parker who are not here with us anymore in the physical realm, but who gave us life, had us in thrift stores when we were younger teaching us everything that we are currently using and applying today in our lives and with our business, and who loved us and did the very best they could in their waking life.

There were so many people on our journey who helped us both become who we are today individually, so it’ll be hard to shout out all of them by name, so instead… We would like to say that we are giving a shoutout to all the people who helped us along the way: whether that was our family, best friends, teachers, mentors, colleagues, line-sisters, and associates that we met along the way. We are grateful to everyone who helped us become the strong, resilient, and powerful women we are today.

We most importantly want to shout out all of the people who have supported Shelly’s Vintage, since we started in 2020. Those who showed up to the pop-up shops we had inside of our home, or very own our “Name Your Price” Instagram live sales. We want to shout out those who shopped with us, follow us, listened to our story, shared our Instagram or website with others, and supported us mentally, spiritually, financially, or emotionally. We are so grateful. We couldn’t have done it without your help!

Last, but never least, we want to shout out our nieces and nephews and all those who will come after us. We created Shelly’s Vintage to pass down to them one day. It’s truly bigger than us!

Website: www.shellysvintage.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/shellysdaughters

Facebook: www.facebook.com/shellysdaughters

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shellysvintage5651

Image Credits
The first two photos were shots taken by Eric Mov The photo of two people in front of school buses The other photos were taken by us, Shelly’s Vintage.