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Tantrum Vintage, a mainstay of Portland’s Y2K clothing reselling community, will close its doors permanently Aug. 9.
Co-owners Brooke Hettick and Amanda Cleve have been at the center of the city’s love affair with late-’90s and early-aughts fashion for years. The duo launched the popular monthly pop-up market Portland Y2K Flea in the summer of 2022 and rallied their success into a brick-and-mortar storefront on Southeast Belmont Street by the end of 2023, rebranding the flea as Tantrum Vintage Market at the same time.
Now, both projects are coming to an end. Hettick and Cleve broke the news on Instagram in early July, and the response made clear that Portland is not over the Y2K trend just yet.
“Thank you for bringing fire style to the block!” wrote one of over 100 commenters.
“Been shopping with you guys since you were the Y2K flea,” wrote another. “Tantrum, I’ll love you forever.”
The shop focused on women and femme customers and maintained relatively affordable prices. But its selection, curated by Hettick, Cleve and a few partnered vendors, is what set it apart in the sea of local thrift and vintage stores. On any given day, its racks were full of printed mesh tops, belted mini skirts, low-rise denim and bedazzled tanks—things its Gen Z clientele actually wants to find while thrifting.
“We’re so grateful for every single person who shopped with us, sold with us, came to a market, shared a post, or simply rooted for Tantrum along the way,” the owners wrote in the post announcing the closure. The post did not give a reason Tantrum is going away, and the owners declined to comment for this story.
The post did specify, however, that everything in the final few weeks would go on sale at an increasing discount—including the racks, mirrors, lighting and shelves, which might suggest there aren’t any plans to reopen in the near future.
