Woman Trying on Clothes at Thrift Store Questioned by Elderly Shopper — and Their Exchange Goes Viral (Exclusive)

• Lauren Blackborow, a fashion content creator from Toronto, is known for her engaging thrift store shopping videos
• Last month Blackborow captured a sweet interaction with an older woman while thrifting at a store an hour away from her house
• She shared the video on TikTok where it’s gone viral with more than 9.6 million views and 1,600-plus comments
  

Lauren Blackborow, a fashion content creator from Toronto, is known for her engaging thrift store shopping videos. She frequently brings her followers along for the ride, sharing tips and tricks for finding treasures among the racks. Though she’s used to receiving curious glances from passersby while filming, she recently experienced a particularly delightful encounter.

While filming in a store in Hamilton, Ontario — about an hour from her home — Blackborow noticed an older woman walking by who seemed eager to interact.

“At first, I worried she might be upset because I was already recording when she appeared on camera,” Blackborow tells PEOPLE. “I thought, ‘Oh no, I’ve filmed someone without their permission. Is she going to be mad?’ ”

The woman, whose name Blackborow didn’t catch, approached her to ask how she got her phone to stick to the mirror. Blackborow explained that she used an Octobuddy, a device with multiple suction cups that allows her phone to adhere to various surfaces.

Blackborow then removed her phone from the mirror and showed the woman the Octobuddy. “She thought it was such a cute idea,” Blackborow says.

“She was the sweetest person on the planet,” Blackborow adds. “My initial concern quickly turned to excitement as we connected. The first thing that came to mind was, ‘Girlhood has no age.’ I was thrilled to chat with her.”

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Since Blackborow had already begun filming her thrifting video for the day, she captured the entire interaction on camera. After asking for the woman’s permission, she posted the video on her TikTok account, hoping to inspire others to spread kindness, too.

To her surprise, the video quickly went viral, garnering more than 9.6 million views and 1,600 comments.

“Everybody in the comments were so kind,” she says. “I have a soft spot for older people in general — I love spending time with them. I used to volunteer at a nursing home when I was in school. It was very exciting for me.”

“I think that because we’re all on our phone, social interaction is to such a minimum these days. But if you come across somebody who is open and just wants to chat, just give it a shot because you genuinely have no idea where they’ve come from,” she adds. “They could teach you something. It could make your whole day.”

Blackborow says she hasn’t been able to track down the woman, but she did notice a comment on the video from a girl who says the woman is her grandma. She’s not sure it’s 100 percent true, so Blackborow is planning her own way to find the stranger. When she does, she plans to gift her with her own Octobuddy.

“I’m going to go back to the store,” Blackborow says. “I’m hoping she’s a local or a regular, and I’m going to ask the employees next time that I’m over there.”