I very much love vintage shops... but to be honest with you every time I walk into one, I feel somewhat overwhelmed - heaps and heaps of clothing impossible to sift through, the smell of mothballs, small space. Generally all of these factors result in me browsing the shop and leaving empty handed. Beyond Retro has long been one of the Londoners' favourite vintage shopping destinations. I mean lets face it - they are the biggest and the best known in London, they even took vintage online. Kudos to them...
Oh and there is another thing... on most of my visits to vintage shops I cant help but feel like im shopping for a fancy dress costume... I mean the last item that I bought and actually wear day to day is a vintage scarf which I had to dig out of a gigantic scarf basket at Beyond Retro, everything else is worn.. well, to fancy dress parties..
Now one of the reasons why I enjoy hanging out with David from Nyanzi Report is that every time I see him, we go to Brick Lane, but every time we go to Brick Lane he shows me something or somewhere I havent seen before.
This time it was BLITZ Vintage Department Store - the new, the ultimate vintage shopping destination for Londoners. BLITZ is one of those stores that you walk into and you are not sure whether you are in a normal store or a vintage store. There is no mothball smell - love! There is a coffee cart - tick! There are couches and vintage books so you can hang out for as long as you want - tick-tick! And there are two floors of carefully selected, wearable vintage clothing. Oh and did I mention there is also tons of other exciting stuff - jewellery, bikes, teapots, lamps... And before you say anything, NO it is not at all cramped or cluttered because the shop is so damn huge!
I can truly say that this was the first time I truly enjoyed a vintage shop and literally did not want to leave. The atmosphere is great, the sales assistants remind me more of your neighbourhood friends that are just hanging out and always willing to take time to talk even if they know that you wont buy anything.
What's also great is that the clothes are in great condition, are clean and relevant - there are vintage looking pieces but also just plain cool looking pieces like leather jackets, skirts, funky hats, etc, etc.
So if you are ever in London, I encourage you to take a trip down memory lane... to BLITZ, trust me you wont regret it!
Oh and there is another thing... on most of my visits to vintage shops I cant help but feel like im shopping for a fancy dress costume... I mean the last item that I bought and actually wear day to day is a vintage scarf which I had to dig out of a gigantic scarf basket at Beyond Retro, everything else is worn.. well, to fancy dress parties..
Now one of the reasons why I enjoy hanging out with David from Nyanzi Report is that every time I see him, we go to Brick Lane, but every time we go to Brick Lane he shows me something or somewhere I havent seen before.
This time it was BLITZ Vintage Department Store - the new, the ultimate vintage shopping destination for Londoners. BLITZ is one of those stores that you walk into and you are not sure whether you are in a normal store or a vintage store. There is no mothball smell - love! There is a coffee cart - tick! There are couches and vintage books so you can hang out for as long as you want - tick-tick! And there are two floors of carefully selected, wearable vintage clothing. Oh and did I mention there is also tons of other exciting stuff - jewellery, bikes, teapots, lamps... And before you say anything, NO it is not at all cramped or cluttered because the shop is so damn huge!
I can truly say that this was the first time I truly enjoyed a vintage shop and literally did not want to leave. The atmosphere is great, the sales assistants remind me more of your neighbourhood friends that are just hanging out and always willing to take time to talk even if they know that you wont buy anything.
What's also great is that the clothes are in great condition, are clean and relevant - there are vintage looking pieces but also just plain cool looking pieces like leather jackets, skirts, funky hats, etc, etc.
So if you are ever in London, I encourage you to take a trip down memory lane... to BLITZ, trust me you wont regret it!
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1 comments:
great review. i enjoy our little forays into this interesting part of London.
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