Daniel,
I just sent you the photos that I took while shopping. I finally got them to send.
Before I went to New York, I used your blog to research the area. At the bottom of your blog page you listed a site called The Thrift Shopper, so I clicked on it and used that site to research thrift shops in New York City. I chose the ones that had high feedback scores and were in the area that were easy for me to access. Also, I did know of a discount retail store called Century 21 that I had visited about 10 years ago and wanted to go there again. I didn’t know if it was still in the same location since it was directly across the street from the World Trade Center when I went there last time, so I looked it up on the internet and found that they were still there.
Once I got the New York, I decided to set out on Saturday morning to Century 21 in the Financial District and work my way back up to Midtown Mahattan where I was staying. Ok, so I get the Century 21 which is like 4 floors of madness! It literally has every luxury designer you can possibly think of and some you may have never heard of as well. It was overwhelming! Add on top of that the fact that it is PACKED with shoppers and they were AGGRESSIVE. This store is well organized so it’s not hard to navigate and honestly to truly get the most of the experience you would need an entire day to spend going through this treasure trove. The prices are great. Everything that I saw was between 65% and 75% off retail price. I sent pictures of some raspberry Blumarine gloves that were just divine! These cashmere lined leather gloves were gorgeous and were $69.95 (65% off retail price). I require a size 7 glove and could only find 6 1/2 and 8. I passed on the gloves. I regret that now! I, also, sent a picture of a Pucci coat that was 73% off, which is fantastic, but even at that reduced price was still too expensive for my broke ass. I spent 2 1/2 hours going through the womens clothing and accessories before moving onto the Men’s section. This area is much smaller, but just as impressive. They had the most wonderful selection of designer suits ever seen by my eyes! Valentino, Hugo Boss, Brioni, Armani, etc., etc., etc…. All of them were marked at between $500 and $700. They also had an in-house tailor to fit them perfectly. Nice touch for a discount store. I got a Roberto Collina shirt for you, a Guy Laroche scarf for Mitch, and a Hugo Boss tie for my hubby. I wanted him to have this tie for his event Saturday night, just to give his look a little more oomph.
At this point, I needed to make a decision. Keep shopping at Century 21 or move onto the other stores I had on my list. I was burning daylight so I needed to move on. I left Century 21 with a vow to return and headed to Gramercy Park. I had 2 thrift stores on my list for this area: The St. Georges Thrift Store and the Vintage Thrift Store. St. Georges had a 4.8 out of 5 star rating so I was quite excited to find this store. It was small. It was the size of my living room. Believe it or not, I still found some good stuff! I sent a picture of a St. Johns sweater set and a Fendi sweater vest. The St. John was marked at $25, but had a small hole at the shoulder of the cardigan so I passed on it. It was such a small hole it could have been repaired but I fell in love with the Fendi vest. I purchased it for $20.
Next, I went to Vintage Thrift which was sadly closed on Saturdays. Undeterred, I headed to Chelsea to the Angel Thrift Store. I was about to flip out when I walked up on the store. It was big! I went inside and saw so many wonderful suits, pants, dresses, coats and handbags. Unfortunately, the prices on these great names were not small. YSL suit was marked $200. Armani dress was $150. They definitely had a different perspective on the word “thrift”. I did look around, but did not purchase anything.
By now, I had spent my whole day shopping. I hit a couple of art galleries before they closed and headed back up to Midtown to rest my weary feet.
Overall, if I could do it again, I would pick out some more places and make sure I had a couple of days to devote to thrifting. Next time I really want to go back to hit the store that was closed on Saturday. I really think that one would have been a good one.
Umie
I will search out recycled luxury brands clothing as well as mid century design collectibles in thrift stores daily. My motto is "luxury should be accessible to everyone not just to a few privileged." It is my mission to seek out affordable high style so I can constantly update my wardrobe as well as my clients. Follow me daily on my thrift store adventures. Toodles for now. Daniel
Twitter: 2thrifters
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