Thrift store owner, artist brightening Youngstown’s westside with new mural
A new mural is coming to Mahoning Avenue on Youngstown’s westside.
Jesse Alexander is the owner of Good Vibes Thrift Store in Youngstown. He’s originally from Portland and moved to northeast Ohio five years ago.
“We’re just hoping to brighten up the west side,” he said. “We’re taking pride in the west side, and want to give something back to the people so that they can be proud of it. When I moved here five years ago, all I saw was opportunity. Buying this building, putting money into it and showing people that if you just put a little bit of love back into your city, we can have something that is magical.”
Good Vibes Thrift Store has been in business for three years, according to Alexander.
“A lot of the money that walks into our store, I try to put back into projects or beautification of the building, so people don’t realize that when they’re buying from us, that they’re actually increasing the value of their neighborhood and bringing just better things to the neighborhood,” he said.
Since moving into 2714 Mahoning Ave., he’s replaced the windows and updated the front facade.
“We have done $16,000 worth of parapet walls and parapet wall construction up there to make it look better as well,” Alexander said. “The city helped pay for half of that with the facade grant. I did some tuck pointing on the front of the building I’m going to do some more tuck pointing.”
Alexander commissioned local artist Mike Egan to brighten up the block with an owl mural on the front of the building.
The project was slated to begin Mid-May.
Good Vibes Thrift Store is open from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 2714 Mahoning Ave. in Youngstown.
“I buy storage units, like on the show Storage Wars, then I flip the contents back to the neighborhood,” Alexander said. “There’s a need, with rising prices, for everybody to get stuff inexpensive. When people walk in, that money typically goes into an account that goes toward new windows, murals and making it look a little bit better. Once we’re done, I’m going to try to buy another building and do the same thing. That’s a long term goal.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:04 AM.
