Stephanie Spear One Northern Virginia woman changed her life’s path with a deep clean of her closet. Amanda Vega was searching for career clarity when she realized her lifelong hobby of thrift shopping could become something more. Her business, Kaleidos, celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2025, and according to Amanda, there’s nothing but growth – and fun – ahead. Read on for more about Amanda Vega and Kaleidos.
About Amanda
Amanda Vega was born in Maryland but grew up in Northern Virginia, in Fairfax County. She is a lifelong creative with a background in music and retail merchandising. Amanda is a singer and left retail to pursue music full-time. She hit a creative block in 2012, which led to a life-changing deep clean of her closet. “The creative juices were not flowing. I hit a creative block, and in my search for my creativity and to declutter my mind, I started decluttering my closet,” she said.
At the same time, Amanda realized that her casual hobby of thrift shopping could become something more. “I’ve always loved thrifting. I loved being able to see the potential of a piece that was forgotten or donated, and someone didn’t want,” she said. “Over the years of thrifting on my own, I realized, ‘Oh, I have a knack for this. Not everyone loves to do this.’ And for me, it was such a creative process. Something like finding a gem in the rough, and then when I pull it up, I see it worn in 10 different ways.”
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“I realized there are so many facets of who I am, just like a kaleidoscope, and that it was essential to shine light on all those pieces of who I am,” she said of the decluttering experience. Amanda launched Kaleidos in 2015 and focused on selling new, ethically made goods, while still thrifting for herself as a hobby. “One meaning of the word ‘kaleidos’ is shining light on undiscovered things, which resonated with me since thrifting and vintage is a lot of finding special things.”
Kaleidos started with a website, and Amanda ran the business from her home. In 2018, Amanda and her husband found the Falls Church space, which is Kaleidos’ current home. “Initially, it was just a space to run the e-commerce part of the business,” she said. “People would ask if they could come shop in the space, and I had to figure it out.” Amanda experimented with a pop-up space in the Mosaic District in 2019. Then COVID hit, and Amanda took a break from in-person events and shopping for a while.
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“It wasn’t until after I had my baby in 2020 and coming back two years postpartum did I decide to shift Kaleidos to be more vintage focused, which kind took me back to the roots of how this journey began — reselling vintage,” Amanda said.
Finding the right rhythm for in-person shopping events, balanced against the original purpose of the space for e-commerce, was a lot of trial and error for Amanda and her team. “We started with appointment-only shopping, then did one-off in-person shopping events,” she said. “And then eventually led to consistent Open Studio days every Saturday where people can shop in-person weekly.”
The open shopping days have become a source of community for Amanda and the other vendors who participate. “I’ve been able to cultivate a creative community around our shared love for our curated vintage and discovery. So we often host pop-ups with local vendors, a lot of matcha and coffee vendors, which always brings in a sense of community and warmth,” Amanda said. “We have a regular rotation of some local businesses that we partner with, but we love to also discover new brands to keep the discovery ongoing.”
What to Expect
Part of the draw of a visit to Kaleidos is the thrill of the hunt: it’s on the third floor of a nondescript office building in Falls Chuch. The bland hallway gives way to a light and airy space when entering the studio. Kaleidos has huge windows overlooking mature trees on the property, giving the space a treehouse-like vibe.
There is interesting art on the walls, plants to add greenery, and we’re reminded of Amanda’s roots as a musician with the cool music playing in the background. In addition to vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories for men and women, shoppers can find books, artwork, and some new items such as candles and beauty products.
While Kaleidos is a tranquil place to shop, it’s still the home base of the business’s e-commerce operation. “I literally hand-source everything myself,” Amanda said. “So I go to various thrifts around the area and curate and source everything ourselves, and then I have a small part-time team that I bring everything back, I dry, clean everything, and then we have a whole processing system, and we inspect it and get it on the floor and tagged and hung. It’s pretty challenging with one-of-a-kind items where you’re doing all that work and all the photography and the description and the measuring of one-of-a-kind pieces.”
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The one-of-a-kind nature of the pieces means that each purchase is a connection to the customer. Amanda said of the Kaleidos experience, “It’s really more about community than it is about the retail and the fashion and the style. It’s beyond the clothes and the retail, and it’s like, this is my form of medium of artwork, almost, and this is how I connect with other people. So I think for me, it’s all about connection. Human connection.” Amanda loves to get photos and messages from customers wearing their finds.
And connection is at the core of Amanda’s long-term vision for Kaleidos. “I love hosting the pop-up events and hosting different small businesses. Eventually, I want to have a street-level space with maybe a cafe attached,” she said. “Every person who comes through here is supporting my small-business dream. I think Kaleidos is beyond vintage and fashion, and retail. We’re building a community around the space. I’m just excited to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Some upcoming events include a sold-out concert at Kaleidos featuring the band Joseph; Sweet & Spicy Pop-up at Kaleidos with Afterschool Coffee House, Cha Cha Flowers, Maila cookies, & Tough Love hot sauce on November 22nd; and a Small Business Saturday Open Studio on November 29th.
Stay up to date with everything Kaleidos on its website and Instagram.
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