How Bodi Community Built a Thrift Culture in Riyadh

Abdullah Abdullah, known in Riyadh’s thrift scene as Bodi, has turned a weekend hobby into a recurring cultural and commercial platform. Beginning in 2024 with Saturday excursions to Bin Qasim Market in Al‑Batha, Bodi launched Bodi Community and the Saudi Thrift initiative to organise seasonal events, pop‑ups and curated markets that stitch sustainability, discovery and social connection together across the Saudi capital.

"When people started coming to me every two weeks asking, 'When are you going to do an event?' that’s when I felt like I was building a community," Abdullah told SceneNow in an interview with Omar Sherif, describing the moment the project moved from pastime to movement.

From Bin Qasim Market to curated seasons

Abdullah says his interest began in 2024 while exploring the Bin Qasim Market, where stalls selling secondhand clothes, digital cameras and other curiosities inspired him to ask, "Why don’t I do thrifting initiative in Riyadh?" What started as exploration quickly evolved into a repeatable model: regular events where anyone can register, bring a table and sell pre‑loved items. The format, Abdullah explains, was created to make thrifting "sustainable — a place where anyone can register, bring a table, arrange their pieces, and sell."

Bodi Community and Saudi Thrift distinguish themselves by rotating concepts and locations each season. Abdullah highlighted how "every season is different" — from conventional vintage fairs to thematic activations. One recent vintage event included horse riding as a winter concept, an example he cited to demonstrate the brand’s appetite for blending lifestyle experiences with secondhand commerce.

• Launch year: 2024, inspired by weekly visits to Bin Qasim Market in Al‑Batha
• First large public moment: an early 2024 event at Riyadh’s Concept Store, featuring six booths and long queues
• Positioning: Bodi Community and Saudi Thrift combine resale, curated discovery and community building

Community is central to the initiative. "Community is bringing people who care about the same culture into one place," Abdullah said, recalling the demand and turnout at his first events. He credits social media with enabling that aggregation: "Without social media, I couldn’t have gathered the Riyadh community in one place. It was the main tool to bring this culture and the people interested in it together."

Outlook: growth beyond Riyadh

Abdullah says the project also promotes more conscious fashion choices by giving value to existing pieces: "Anyone can sell their old things and benefit from them. It gives value to pieces that already exist, supporting sustainability." Looking ahead, expansion is a clear priority. "A lot of people ask why I don’t go outside Riyadh. Expanding to different cities is definitely one of my goals for the new year," he told SceneNow, signalling a push to replicate the Bodi model across Saudi Arabia.

As Bodi Community and Saudi Thrift plan further seasons and potentially a national footprint, the initiative highlights how grassroots activity—grounded in markets like Bin Qasim, amplified on social media and curated through pop‑up concepts—can reframe consumption, surface rare finds and anchor a growing local culture around secondhand goods.