Williamsburg Boutique Roundup

[labrujah]

I'm going to rent a movie and hang out in my apartment which I love more and more each day, although the kitchen ceiling is coming down and today my downstairs neighbor came in to fix the hole in the bathroom floor which has been allowing us to hear and see whenever he is renovating down there. And he can hear and see god knows what we are doing in the bathroom. I have not been contemplating it. Anyway it's filled in.

Today I went to three small boutiques in the neighborhood, driven by the punishing wind, on my way to the post office. Special is on Bedford between S. 2nd and 3rd, and run by a funny gossipy young Asian guy. He has lots of little plants, some okay vintage clothes, and "antique" furniture (let's say junk, priced as antique).

Also Sweet Virginia on Havemeyer and S. 3rd, which had a selection of pretty good clothes but nothing outstanding. I usually see three things I love every time I go in but not this time.

And Now Playing on Havemeyer, a few doors north. Shaky selection in a new place, mostly men's shirts and jackets, lots of 80s shoes. Nothing really too original, which was disappointing based on their interesting window display.

These stores were all a little pricey for what they were offering. Sweet Virginia is pretty reasonable, I've found. Fortunata on Metropolitan and Havemeyer has great accessories and jewelry, and lots of it. Lint is okay, they'll sometimes have a standout piece and it's fun to browse there (and the owner is really nice). Lagniappe, I haven't made it there yet but am looking forward to it. The Nines is okay -- again, some good pieces and fun browsing, moderate to high prices.


All this discourages me from wanting to open my own shop stocked with vintage. With all this competition raiding the thrift stores, no wonder they're tapped out. One big weakness is that most of these places are offering nearly the same thing. So they really need some special stuff to make them stand out, like Mini mini market's range of jewelry and funny little toys and stationery, or that new design place by Tops, which has really witty art/living pieces.

Comments

[enn.livejournal.com]

perhaps more reason to have your own. just take road trips out of this area. go to estate sales in teXas & drive to upstate & new orleans &, you know, like that.
i worked at a vintage boutique in sf & the lady who owned it would go to teXas once a year &come back with a goodlord ton of clothes.
& when i lived in the little college town i used to take road trips to other towns to get the better goods, for a friend of mine who had a shop of new & used clothes. [which i quite liked; the new & used business of it. also the shop was call'd lulu's!]

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

Hm, yes. Going out of town sounds even better. Flying to Tucson and coming back with armfuls of cowboy snap shirts. And visiting the tiki bar.

Lulu's is a very good name. There is a great old song (from the 20s?) called Don't Bring Lulu, do you know it? It's about a party where you can bring all these other girls who are nice, but not Lulu because she flirts with the men and destroys things.

I also like Zuzu's Petals for a name.

so, when Will you open this shop then. soon i certainly hope..

[enn.livejournal.com]

o, i do not know that song. it sounds giggly fun though;
& gracious, i think zuzu's petals is dandy & sweet & swell & all sorts of that.
will you have a velveteen couch in yr fancy boutique?

[razorart.livejournal.com]

also be sure to check out Love Shine between us and L'agniappe. We're having a block party on Saturday starting at 6 pm!!!!

We love the owners of Love Shine and L'agniappe!!!!

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

1. I LOVE the new design place by Topps. I feel like it would be easy to write it off as yet another gentrification force in the neighborhood, but a. Williamsburg is already super gentrified anyway, and 2. they have really great, unique, well crafted stuff. Although I hate the "scratchitti" plastic lumber tables.

Yes, some of the furniture is super pricey, but with the cost of materials and the amount of labor, the prices are not that outrageous. And the bags and other lower cost items are reasonably priced. And they keep getting more and better stuff everytime I go in. Uh, do I need to reiterate how I feel about this place? And the owner is nice. Oh, and I LOVE that they have an actual bathroom in which to display bathroom fixtures/items. Ok, point made.

2. 3/4 of the reason that I like/shop at Lint is because the owner is so nice. A nice change from Beacon's Closet.

3. Have you ever been to the clothing by the pound place on Metropolitan and Havemeyer/Union/Roebling (can't remeber which)? It has a big yellow painted sign outside and it advertises being open to the public seven days a week. I've been meaning to check it out for forever now, but I can't remember to make the time. I've never heard a word about this place though.

4. Have you popped into the new place on Bedford by the Bagel Store (in the old W Warehouse location)? It's really strange. Instead of just having racks of various shirts, they'll have one rack of cowboy shirts, and one rack of too small softball team tshirts from the midwest, and nothing else. Same with jackets, sweaters, etc. It kind of makes it feel like an "assemble a hipster" place -- as in, choose one item off each rack, throw it all together, and strut down Bedford Ave.

5. You're right that the neighborhood is getting saturated with clothing stores, but I'm not sure it's all the way there yet. I'd love to see another store with Mini Mini Mall type tsotchkes, and maybe new interesting clothes that were priced slightly lower (I know, wishful thinking). Also, I've heard a number of requests for a bookstore that is more literature oriented.

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, the design place! If I had the money to drop, I'd be dropping it there. Although I know what you mean about the graffiti tables -- in the same vein, I've seen too many pillows and earrings with guns on them. The dishes with guns I kind of like, though. And that fishtank toilet is hysterical.

3. I have never been there! And never even really noticed the sign, although I walk by there almost every day. I bet they aren't around anymore. Another weird place like that is what I call Shit on Driggs, right by the park. I hate that place, the guy that runs it is so mean, prices everything super high after giving you the "you're not like me" squint, and my friends used to live above it and said in the summer, hundres of roaches and mice and spiders would come up from there.

4.Yeah, the new place is weird. I feel like they bought it all in one big lot. And everybody working there is Latino and don't seem to be into vintage clothes at all. I was thinking of offering my services as a buyer on weekends. But they don't seem too friendly either. I'm not sure how long they can last there.

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

Shit of Driggs -- you mean the Hasidic place at N10th or 11th? Pretty gross, I agree.

I think that the mongo "used clothes" place might still be there. I also noticed signs for it recently at the intersection of the WB bridge exit ramp and Broadway. Or at least I think it was that place. If not, there is another "by the pound" used clothing outlet in the neighborhood.

I am going to make a point to go before the end of the year. I'll post a report.

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

I think it might be by the BQE up by Graham kind of. Please do scout it out. There is reportedly another by-the-pound giant place in the Bronx.