Vintage Clothing - Beyond Tiki

H Humuhumu Member San Francisco Joined: Aug 22, 2002 Posts: 3691	H Humuhumu Posted posted on Wed, Dec 21, 2005 12:15 PM I tend to do my vintage clothes shopping in two ways -- some days, I feel up for doing some serious hunting, and some days, I'm looking for an easy kill. If I'm doing serious hunting, I'm willing to slog through Goodwills, estate sales, drive all over town, hit random thrift shops... my expectations for what I will find are low, but I've also been looking at $2, $5 and $10 price tags all day. On easy kill days, I feel more like hitting reliable vintage shops that have already filtered through all the crap, and for that, I'm willing to pay a bit more for a cool item -- $20, $30, I've paid up to $260 for a vintage dress. Spend a couple days going to the full spectrum of different kinds of vintage clothes shops to get a feel for the difference. Getting enough vintage clothes together, at a low enough cost to turn a profit on them, will take a huge time investment. My mind boggles when I consider the amount of time it took to find the items in my closet, and those wouldn't come nearly close to filling a store. If your store is off the beaten path, then you'll be reliant on word-of-mouth between lovers of vintage clothes. Some people might not be eager to let people know about a little unknown place with great stuff. What is the business that will be sharing this space? Is it attractive to the same audience of shoppers?

I tend to do my vintage clothes shopping in two ways -- some days, I feel up for doing some serious hunting, and some days, I'm looking for an easy kill. If I'm doing serious hunting, I'm willing to slog through Goodwills, estate sales, drive all over town, hit random thrift shops... my expectations for what I will find are low, but I've also been looking at $2, $5 and $10 price tags all day. On easy kill days, I feel more like hitting reliable vintage shops that have already filtered through all the crap, and for that, I'm willing to pay a bit more for a cool item -- $20, $30, I've paid up to $260 for a vintage dress. Spend a couple days going to the full spectrum of different kinds of vintage clothes shops to get a feel for the difference. Getting enough vintage clothes together, at a low enough cost to turn a profit on them, will take a huge time investment. My mind boggles when I consider the amount of time it took to find the items in my closet, and those wouldn't come nearly close to filling a store.

If your store is off the beaten path, then you'll be reliant on word-of-mouth between lovers of vintage clothes. Some people might not be eager to let people know about a little unknown place with great stuff.

What is the business that will be sharing this space? Is it attractive to the same audience of shoppers?

Post #204023 by Humuhumu on Wed, Dec 21, 2005 12:15 PM