More Than Vintage: BaldyLox Builds A Community in Style

Before I ever stepped foot inside BaldyLox Vintage, I felt like I already knew my way around. Tiktoks and Instagram reels of the shop constantly popped up on my feeds since last year—snippets of customers trying on outfits, piles of vintage finds and the owner’s larger-than-life personality grabbing my attention.

I found myself wondering: “Who is this bald guy, and how did he build such a following?”

The answer lies just off of East Pender, his shop nestled in the heart of Chinatown. You’ll know you’ve found it when you spot its playful logo—a cheeky cartoon of the owner’s face smiling down from the storefront window.

Behind the shelves of streetwear and vintage finds is Alex Chang, though almost everyone knows him simply as “Baldy.” At just 23 years old, he’s been able to scale his passion for fashion into a thriving business, one that not only supports himself but anchors a community around it.

 

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“[Thrifting] was a getaway for me,” Baldy reminisces.

Friends and customers drift in and out of the shop as we chat, and Baldy doesn’t miss a beat—pausing mid-sentence to cheerfully greet each person with the same liveliness that encompasses his store. But, long before becoming a pillar of the fashion scene in Vancouver, Baldy was just another teenager hunting for rare pieces no one else had. 

His story begins at every thrifter’s rite of passage: Value Village. For Baldy, the gateway into fashion wasn’t a runway, but the aisles of his local thrift store.

“I felt safe at Value Village, it was another home.”

He went so often as a teen that he built friendships with many of the workers, eventually landing himself a job.

“I’m not even Filipino and I knew all the titas,” he laughs, recalling the many Filipino aunties (titas in Tagalog) that worked the floor. “And fast forward, I started working there.”

Baldy’s love for the thrill of the find eventually spilled into business. By his late teens, he was selling pieces online through Depop and Facebook Marketplace, turning his knack for finding hidden gems into a source of income. And with an already established and growing social media presence, it got him thinking.

“I’m making videos and people are following me,” says Baldy. “I felt like this is something I really wanted to do, but at the same time I had to think about if I could make this something that can pay me.”

With his business venture growing, he went from riding solo to enlisting the help of his brother. Rather than doing it all himself, Baldy would hire him to take photos of the clothes and pay him back with lunch—a humble business model he would soon scale to much greater heights.

What started as a passion project quickly demanded more space. The clothing racks and high ceilings of BaldyLox Vintage may make it look effortless now, but getting the keys to his Chinatown storefront was anything but simple.

“People were looking down on me regarding legalities. I had to prove myself,” says Baldy. “There were a lot of times where they would just be like, ‘You’re just a kid.’”

Amid pushback from lawyers, real estate agents and skeptics, he pressed on, leaning on entrepreneurial advice from friends and his flair for curating stylish drops. Aware of his younger market, Baldy keeps his collections pretty Stüssy and Supreme—staple brands his core teen and young adult customers are on the look out for. But even as he caters to the local streetwear crowd, his eye is on the global runways.

“I watch every single fashion video, it’s so intriguing. I want to go to New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week,” he explains. “One day I’ll be like, ‘Yo, I’m doing a Maison Margiela drop.’”

While his carefully selected drops are what kickstarted the business, one aspect flipped BaldyLox Vintage from best-kept-secret to viral sensation: putting his customers in front of the camera. One swipe on the shop’s Instagram reveals the many faces of BaldyLox shoppers, with Baldy jumping in to style them in looks pulled straight from the racks.

 

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“It’s grown the business, but also given people the limelight. I’ve posted people on my page that have gotten career opportunities,” he says, pointing to a story of one of his youngest regulars, a 13-year-old boy who came by the shop almost daily last summer. After a few appearances on Baldy’s page, the tween gained traction of his own and soon found himself getting sent brand deals.

Born out of Baldy’s love for content creation, the videos have grown into one of the stores defining traits – giving the community a chance to be part of the story.

However, the allure of the store doesn’t stop when they close up shop. After hours, the store every so often transforms into a hot spot for events. With a colourful DJ deck at the centre of the room, DJ sets, concerts and other gatherings bring together a creative crowd; BaldyLox Vintage is a retailer by day and vibe-y venue by night.

“It’s really open ground,” he says. “Fun incubator events where people can get really involved.”

Leaning back on his cherry red sofa and taking in the shop, Baldy is proud to say that it has become the vision that he once dreamed of. “This is exactly what I would have pictured,” he reflects. “A lounge area, a DJ board, the shopping experience; I have something that brings people together.”

When asked about any changes he’d make to the store, he simply states he’d want to replace the faux greenery adorning the ceiling with real vines: a fitting metaphor for a space that will keep growing. Real plants or not, BaldyLox is already alive—thriving on fashion, music, creativity and, above all, the community that surrounds it.