Hanging out on a vintage couch in Million Dollar Thrift Stylehouse are (from left) Robert Tranchina, D’London and Ron Alexenburg.  “I can’t walk into a normal store where you see 10 pieces of the same item anymore,” says D’London, who created the store.  “I wanted a store with variety and blinginess.”

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Million Dollar Thrift Stylehouse

Glamorous gowns, bedazzled dresses and gem-studded heels fill every corner of Million Dollar Thrift Stylehouse, a new store in Orange that proves you don’t need designer prices to look like a star.  The shop, founded by D’London, held its grand opening in October.

D’London’s path to opening Million Dollar Thrift began with a devastating business loss, as she was defrauded for more than a million dollars.  But as a singer-songwriter and pageant queen, she needed constant access to glamorous outfits and couldn’t afford retail prices.

“As I started on my thrifting journey, my closet kept getting bigger and bigger,” she says.  “I wanted a Kardashian closet and realized I could make that happen at a fraction of the cost with thrifting.”

D’London styled clients for weddings and events, and her collection grew so large that her partner, Robert Tranchina, insisted they needed more space.  She also wanted to share her pieces with others, so she created the style house.

D’London designed the shop for shoppers to feel the same excitement she gets from thrifting.

“I set up the store so it’s like a treasure hunt.  I’ve hidden all these cute gem heels or thigh-high boots in between racks of clothes,” she says.  “There’s nothing in here that is regular, normal attire, like plain T-shirts.  Everything is glamorous and bedazzled.”

D’London sources every item herself, seeking out pieces for women who love bling and anything out of the ordinary.  The inventory ranges from evening gowns to bedazzled pantsuits to wedding dresses, and she plans to let the film industry draw from the store for costumes.

“I have an unusual relationship with clothing in the sense that there’s sentiment attached to a lot of these pieces,” she says.  “I want them to go to a great new home.”

Million Dollar Thrift comes with another component: a reality TV show following D’London’s thrifting chronicles.  When D’London styled her teenage daughter for events like prom and graduation, Tranchina said she looked like “a million bucks” and immediately had the idea for a reality television show.

The show is slated for production with executive producer Ron Alex- enburg, a longtime music industry executive who has known D’London since her early music career.

“I can’t wait to have a camera crew go shopping with her,” says Alexenburg.  “She walks in and knows exactly what to do.  She’ll go to five stores in a day and come out with pieces that are just perfect.”

D’London wants customers to feel empowered in what they wear.  “I don’t run this shop as a business, I run it as a passion,” she says.  “I’m creating a space for women to be themselves, maybe even push the envelope, but I encourage them to feel comfortable and confident in their own skin.”

For D’London, Million Dollar Thrift represents resilience.  “I wasn’t going to let losing a million dollars be the end of my story.  I just had to pivot and reinvent myself to create a different journey for myself,” she says.

Million Dollar Thrift Stylehouse
7444 East Chapman Ave., Suite B, Orange, CA 92869  /  833-444-6455