LANSING - Concert T-shirts hung from racks as Trent, a pink dog with a Mohawk, scampered on the wooden floor proudly displaying his chew toy.

Trash ’N’ Fashion, 1914 E. Michigan Ave., is a new vintage clothing store run by Lindsay Schley that will open today.

Schley is an 18-year-old Mason resident who said she is tired of not running the show.

“Hopefully it will catch on, but I am not really in it for the money,” she said. “It’s what I like to do and it is not working for somebody.”

Schley graduated from high school a semester early and said she didn’t want to go to college. She had tried the retail business before in an antique mall but said the clientele didn’t take an interest in her store.

“They are antique stores, and it is not directed toward a more youthful crowd,” she said.

Trash ’N’ Fashion sells vintage and new clothing, rock T-shirts, candles and soap. Schley said she would like to have more unique things than other stores.

“I play music and I’d like to be in a band, but you have to do something to make money, so I decided to sell clothes,” Schley said.

Rachel Whitaker, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Retailers Association, said it is fairly rare for an 18-year-old to be running her own business.

“I know there are some retailers that are pretty young when they started out, but I would say that starting right out of high school is rare,” Whitaker said.

Promoting an image, she said, could make Schley’s store very distinctive from others in the area.

“Just the fact that she is 18 could attract people,” she said.

Youth, she said, could help the store because Schley would have knowledge of what styles are hip with younger people.

Other young store owners have taken notice of Schley and her new business.

History senior Michael Krueger owns Vinyl Addict Records, 503 E. Grand River Ave., and said Schley’s new store is a gutsy move.

Krueger said she will probably enjoy making her own hours, but she will need to do some hard work to keep it going.

“Get to know the community and especially the other businesses. It is fun to have people to talk to and you can network by putting fliers in other people’s stores,” Krueger said.

One difficulty Schley might face is the cost of running the business, Krueger said.

“There is going to be some real hard times, some low times,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter as long as she loves it, because her heart is in it.”