When Julie Ghatan opened Dovetail in 2008, she noticed customers walking into her store in Chicago's Noble Square neighborhood unaware that many of the products were old, rather than offering new merchandise.

“You could see it in their faces when they found out,” Ghatan said.

Customers turned and left. Now it doesn't happen anymore.

Buying second-hand products has gone from being stigmatized to being a common practice. How to notice it? Warehouses want to participate.

Shoppers enjoy the thrill of finding a unique product or deal, or shopping without worrying about the environmental impact of the textile industry. Others are buyers and sellers, aware that each purchase can be resold to open a hole in their wallet - and their closet - for something new.

“It's better for the environment, my wallet and my assets,” argued Izzy Howard, a 24-year-old Humboldt Park resident who is a customer of Crossroads Trading in Wicker Park.

The stance on secondhand goods began to change during the last recession, when "discounting became fashionable," said Oliver Chen, a retail analyst at Cowen & Co.

More than a decade later, this practice has established itself as more than just a fad. In the last five years, stores that sell used goods have grown more than traditional stores, not counting discount stores and off-price retailers, said David Weiss, a partner at consulting firm McMillanDoolittle.

Even brick-and-mortar stores like JC Penney and Macy's are giving second-hand clothing a try.

“This is not a fad that is going to go away anytime soon. It's a generational change,” Weiss said.

Maybe it's a multigenerational thing. When Linda Beckstrom, 64, was younger, shopping for second-hand goods meant going to disorganized stores without fitting rooms, which forced trying on clothes in the aisles. Today, she looks for deals at stores like the Buffalo Exchange, located on a section of Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park, along with several thrift and antique stores.

“When clothes are expensive, you don't have as much fun, and sometimes the clothes here are more interesting than the clothes you see at Target,” Beckstrom said.

The internet offers sites for all tastes. Vendors who choose not to handle transactions themselves may ship their products to companies that operate as discount stores. On the luxury goods side, The RealReal store offers authenticated luxury goods, while ThredUp incorporates a wide range of brands available in a traditional mall.

Other portals, such as eBay, Etsy, Depop and Facebook Marketplace, allow customers to buy and sell directly to each other.

Traditional brands and stores are joining in, too. Patagonia provides the customer with a voucher in exchange for items that the store can resell. Macy's and JC Penney have offered ThredUp products in some of their stores, including the Macy's branch on State St. and Water Tower Place, Oakbrook Center and Old Orchard malls.

Partnerships at San Francisco-based ThredUp reach customers who want to touch and feel merchandise before they buy it, its spokeswoman, Samantha Blumenthal, said in an email. The company started in 2009 as a menswear swap place, but now focuses on womenswear and kidswear.

The ThredUp store, located at Macy's on State St., is filled with women's items from brands Macy's doesn't carry like Madewell, American Eagle Outfitters, J. Crew and Lululemos, plus a few handbags. Blumenthal said products vary from store to store depending on what customers are looking for online.

This represents new competition between online stores and brick-and-mortar, legacy and consignment stores for customers and shoppers.

However, local used stores claim they have two advantages. First, shoppers tend to have less belief in the size and condition of a second-hand product, which encourages customers to try products in person before buying. The second, that some stores see the competition as engines to increase their clientele.

"We welcome the growth of other second-hand businesses," said Gina Nowicki, a spokeswoman for Crossroads, which has 37 stores according to her website.

“All the money spent on marketing goes to tell people that what they wear is a real option.”

Some discount stores have also started selling online. According to Cindi Dibuglione, owner of Cynthia's Consignments in Lincoln Park, a store she has sold on eBay since 1995 and employs only for the internet sector, the general audience commands higher prices, especially from the most sought-after brands and suppliers.

Other owners use social media to increase sales, but have found that selling online is worth it, except for higher value products that need a larger audience.

"I'd rather have someone come in and have a good experience," said Sasha Hodges, co-owner of Kokorokoko Vintage in Wicker Park, which specializes in '80s and '90s gear and accessories.

Some of the clients hope, at the very least, that they can earn some money too. Hodges assured that he realizes when a client buys a product to dress it or to profit on the internet.

“In the last two years, I feel like there's more of 'does this have value? Can I resell it?' instead of 'look, I like this,'” Hodges said.

Raven Rothkopf, 71, of Andersonville, started using the Depop app to make purchases and decided to try reselling for extra money. Two years later, Rothkopf, a senior at Francis W. Parker High School, estimated that she sells about 20 to 30 products a week on the app.

Ella Rothkopf added that she spends about four hours a day on the app answering questions and negotiating with buyers. A little more time is spent scouring discount stores to stock her online store, packing and shipping products. However, she enjoys selling and buying, and said that "I make a good amount of money for a student who doesn't live off the money I make."

"It's another creative outlet for me," Rothkopf said.

“I think of it as half social media, half business.”

For Stacy Mausolf, 28, of Hyde Park, reselling has become her full-time job. She joined the portal Poshmark in 2017 to earn money after being fired from her job as a babysitter, running it as a business from the start with discount store merchandise.

"I enjoy shopping, so reselling is a good way to feed my shopping addiction, but turn it into a profit," Mausolf revealed.

But more casual sellers say cutting out the middleman of discount stores is more work than it's worth.

Apps and websites that allow customers to list their own merchandise and set their own price could represent higher profits than using discount stores. However, this requires artistically composed photos, descriptions crafted to appear in search engines, and constant haggling with customers.

Emma Cullen, 26, of Logan Square, managed to successfully sell some Adidas products on Depop, but struggled to generate interest in smaller brands. When she needed to clean out her closet before a move, she went to Crossroad, which she bought for her on the spot.

As online reselling options grow, competition for brick-and-mortar stores may increase, analyst Chen said.

"If you're a customer, would you visit that store or go online to see thousands and thousands of products?" Chen said.

Rothkopf said she still enjoys shopping at local discount stores, but when she needs something specific, she makes it easier for her to search Depop instead of hoping to find it in a store.

Sellers of second-hand products on the Internet also face its obstacles. Swap.com, a Woodridge-based business, temporarily stopped accepting used clothing after being swamped with shipments that fell short of expectations. Their vendors now have to go through quality checks.

Its chief executive, Jennifer Carr-Smith, said the company is trying to increase its sales force "in a smart way" while attracting more buyers.

“Revenue is a little under $20 million, but we have a lot of room to grow. We want this number to double in a year or two,” Carr-Smith said.