But, at the urgings of Erica, here I am posting again. Putting my heart and soul out there to the big wide world of the web. Cyberspace. The Internet. The Interwebs. The computer. How do people refer to 'this' nowadays, anyhow? I digress... getting back to the general theme of this blog, that being fashion and consumer shopping in general, I did enjoy an out of the ordinary shopping trip today.
Somehow in the course of the morning I visited 2 boutique shops in Westboro center and 2 consignment shops in Worcester. Kind of odd, considering one of the last times I think I went to a consignment or thrift store type place was when I was on my way to help some friends paint and I didn't have any paint clothes, so I stopped at Savers and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt. That was how long ago, now? It was when Daryl and Andrea moved into their new house, so that was at least 5 years ago, I think. Anyway, bottom line is, I don't frequent consignment shops. I envy those who do and somehow walk away with beautiful vintage dresses for $2 and the like, but I've never found huge success like that.
So last week I was with some friends in our volunteer ministry work and one of them mentioned a cute consignment store she had found on Harrison St. in Worcester, called Alexis Grace. We happened to be right around the corner so we made Jordan circle around the block and we pulled up to the store. I went in with Lisa and Steph but we knew we didn't have a lot of time, so I did my cursory evaluation of the store to determine which racks I should concentrate my limited time on. Yeah, I do that. I decided to concentrate on the shoes first since I immediately noticed some BCBG shoes and a pair of Charles David mary jane pumps in my size! For $10. Yay! So I scooped those up, scanned the rest of the shoes, tried to make Steph buy the pair of BCBG pumps, to no avail, and continued with my evaluation. I moved on to handbags and was surprised to find several Coach bags, a Kate Spade and a Furla brown leather bag, all priced $85 or less. Not bad, considering they retail for about $300-$700 brand new. The styles are pretty classic, so it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility to purchase one second hand. Long story short, I walked out with 2 pairs of pants from Banana Republic and the Gap for my 15 year old brother, that pair of Charles David shoes and a pink cardigan from Banana Republic for myself. $26 for all that!
Of course that was all accomplished in a window of less than 15 minutes, so obviously I would require a more in depth investigation of this establishment in an unhurried setting to really experience it fully. This is where Erica comes in. I told her about the shop and she was eager to check it out as well. So we went again today.
I thoroughly examined each and every rack, shelf and nook and cranny in the shop. Including the downstairs back area with a clearance rack and a $1 rack. The shop itself is very well organized and neat as a pin. All the items were clearly marked and reasonably priced. There were several items with tags still attached. For instance I stumbled across a Donna Ricco forest green cocktail dress for $28. It was very similar to this one (yes, I know that's not Donna Ricco, but its a similar style), but seeing as it was a size 8, I couldn't quite justify the purchase. Onward, ho. The fruits of our labors paid off and I left with a skirt for $8 and a second skirt for $1. Its not my size, but it was a Tahari wool skirt for $1 so I felt like I needed to buy it and save it from an uncertain fate which very well might have included moth eaten holes or musty basement smells. Neither of which befit a perfectly good Tahari skirt. So I bought it. If anyone reading this is a size 8P, let me know and the skirt is yours.
As I was paying for my skirts, we sort of chatted up the woman at the counter. Turns out she is the owner and she runs the shop all by herself. Lots of work for a one woman operation. She also recommended we check out another consignment shop 2 doors down called Blackstone Vignettes. She pointed out they focused more on home goods and vintage items rather than clothing and accessories.
We headed down the street to Blackstone Vignettes. Cute shop, but definitely not quite as neat and tidy as Alexis Grace. They certainly had some beautiful vintage material and small furniture and decorative items available for sale. Erica immediately picked out a mink stole from Milton's for $65. Not a bad deal. But mink? Really? I don't know. We spent some time weeding through the dresses and bags. A few items sort of popped out, but nothing I could really justify spending any real amount of money on. One thing that caught both of our attention was this lamp. What a great lamp. But for $140 some odd dollars it wasn't quite worth it. Although it would be sure to generate laughs and giggles from those familiar with A Christmas Story. The shop definitely had some unique pieces and we spent quite a bit of time just poking around and checking things out. Neither of us walked out with any purchases though. That's just as well. Now Erica can save up for the $400 "Icelandic" jacket she fell in love with at Nicolina's in Westboro.
Yes, that's right, $400 for a jacket. For most of us that may seem completely ridiculous and out of the question. And by "us" I mean those of us who generally shop at places like Target, Marshall's or TJ Maxx (and not the expensive stuff there either!). At any rate, under normal circumstances none of us would have entertained the idea of spending that much money on a single item of clothing. But somehow Lisa and I found ourselves coaxing and cajoling Erica to buy the coat! Somehow we were overtaken by the special "Icelandic" wool the store clerk kept talking about and the "detail work," etc., etc. In the end she didn't buy it (and I'm sure Jon is breathing a sigh of relief if he is reading this).
The point is, though, that somehow $400 didn't feel like a lot while we were in the boutique. Somehow it seemed OK to spend $100 for one tank top or $150 for a singular and unique skirt. Plus they give first time buyers a special discount ranging from 10-20% off their first purchase.
OK. Hold the phone. I just did a search trying to find an article or some kind of link about Icelandic Wool coats. And guess what I found? The exact same 'one of a kind' coat. For $100 less!!! So this kind of changes the tone of my post about Nicolina's. I still think it is a great shop. Will I ever buy anything there? Most likely not. But what I will do is visit there and discover "unique" items I like and then find them for cheaper prices elsewhere. Nicolina obviously has a great eye for unique and eye catching pieces. And of course she has to make her profit somewhere. But seeing as I'm on a pretty tight budget, I'm going to be buying it from whoever has the cheapest price. I mean when it comes to the difference between $3 for a zucchini at the local farmer's market or $1.50 at the local grocery store chain, I'm willing to splurge to support the local farmer. But when it comes to a $100 difference, I'm going with corporate America all the way. $100 is a lot of dough. The way I shop that could mean an entire outfit. Or the tipping point of whether I can buy that Coach bag I really really want at the Outlet store in Wrentham (hope you're reading this, Ian). But if perusing boutique shops like Nicolina's is getting me out of Express and The Gap and stores of the like with mass produced t-shirts and jeans that every 4 out of 5 people walking down the street will be wearing, then sign me up! Don't get me wrong, I shop at those stores all the time. But, come on, how many times can you "reinvent" the T-shirt or the jean?
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