originally uploaded by boboniaa for wardrobe_remix
This photo makes me very happy – Spring has been brief this year (yesterday was 94 degrees!), so I am all awash in Summer fever. In fact, I’ve pretty much planned out my entire season and it totally includes you guys! After a trip to New York to see Mary Catherine on Broadway, Diana and I are out to prove we’re totally insane:
Get ready, America, because we’re going on a:
That’s right, Diana and I have never met*, but we’re ready to put that fact aside to hit the open road together for a 2-3 week US tour (starting in late June). We’re obviously pretty sure we’ll be able to stand each other and/or are not planning on kidnapping one another.
So what we want to know is…
Does your town, no matter how small, have the best thrifting?
We’ll be thrifting our little asses off and scouting picturesque locations for photoshoots of our finds so you can decide which town yielded the best results. We’re on a mission to find the best thrift stores in America.
If your town is chosen as the most thrift-worthy, you could win a very covetable prize!
We are also looking for hip kids to host Painfully Hip clothing swaps along the way. Email us if you are interested in having a couple of highly entertaining thrift bloggers (and their photographers) over for some thrift-swapping merriment. Bonus points if you have a floor or yard we can camp out on! We will also be accepting tips on camping sites, local music, waterhole coordinates, kitschy points of interest, and excellent dive bar locales.
*EDIT: So in an unforeseen string of serendipitous events, it turns out that Diana and I are going to be in Brooklyn, Mary Catherine’s place of residence, AT THE SAME TIME. The Painfully Hip bloggers will all converge for the first time from May 15th-20th in New York!
Tell us: WHAT SHOULD WE DO??
Comment or email your travel tips to painfullyhip @ gmail.com!
Thanks in advance and all hail summertime fun!
CONGRATULATIONS! How exciting for you guys! So much fun.
If you come to Kansas City, Missouri…you NEED to check out Donna’s Dress Shop in Westport. It’s my favorite vintage store and she always stocks it with interesting finds. Also, Re-Runs is a great vintage store to go to as well. They have TONS of stuff!!
Austin, Texas!
Oh my gosh, if you make it to the south east, you HAVE to let me take you around Atlanta!! I have a few secret thrifting nooks I will happily share, and clothing swap? Yes please! Sounds like an awesome trip, I hope you come on down south y’all! (P.S. Amber, I tried to email you but I don’t actually know your email so I don’t know if my guessed email address went through… mine is zombielace@gmail.com, I know, very creative). Oh, and I also want to comment on Boboniaa of whom I am a big flickr fan. Her outfits are the CUTEST, they inspire me all the time!
Beacons Closet in Bedford, Brooklyn
and In God We Trust (not thrifty, but lovely to look at.
If you pass by Granville, OH… Footloose, run by Barbara, is hands-down the greatest vintage place I’ve ever found, especially if you are tiny like me. I’ve gotten a 1940s jacket, 1950s dresses, 1970s shirts… and everything is very reasonable!
Sorcha, I will definitely, without a doubt, be stopping by Beacons next month. When I go into an expensive vintage store like that, I just try to think of it as more of a museum… a museum where you can touch things!!
Kim, Footloose sounds rad… We’ll see if we can fit it into our route somehow!
Atlanta, Austin, Kansas City! All places I’ve never been! Thanks!
Thanks for the bootie of tips, ladies!
Keep em coming!
Alright, Cheap Thrills in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I dare you. All I have to do is say one word and the red carpet will be rolled out. I am Big People there.
Okay, I have no city thrifting site suggestion but I just want to say that the photo of boboniaa is adorable. Even the knee injury adds charm to the whole outfit!
St. Vincent Di Paul’s in South Bend, IN.
It’s a no-name town with no one cool…and that leaves all the rich older peoples clothes to ME!
I never walk out of there without a handful of treasures.
We’re on the way to Chicago…about an hour and a half south east of it.
-Miss La Wren
I live in Central Jersey, near Princeton. The best thrift store EVER, Red, White & Blue is here. It’s been around for a white. When I first started getting interested in vintage clothing, my mom suggested it because she used to go there with her firends.
Sounds awesome – I think Vancouver SUCKS for thrifting, personally but I hear great GREAT things about Portland, Oregon!
Wanderlusting’s last blog post..And the winner is…
I have to agree with Emily. KC has great stores. I like Boomerang a lot. You can also find some great things at the Goodwill’s around the city. I always find something when I go to them.
Also, check out Grinders for great food.
I second Beacon’s, but it’s in Williamsburg. Bedford is a street. There is also one in Park Slope.
Brooklyn Flea on the weekend! There’s also the Young Designer’s Market in Nolita, but if you’re choosing between the two, opt for the Brooklyn Flea. There’s also the Williamsburg Artists and Fleas.
Plan on eating a lot…you have to enjoy the restaurants while in New York.
Keiko Lynn’s last blog post..Little Lamb
DIIIIIAAAAAAANNNNNNAAAAAA!!!!!!! (yelled with the same emphatic tone as Adrianne!!!!):
come see me, come see me, come see me, come see me, come see me!
i will not only set up a clothing swap but insure that i put both of you up in a swank condo just for you for NO COST – one of my insanely rich clients keeps it just to put friends and business associates in from out of town!! i am not kidding in the least. i have no less than 7 great thrift stores that are cheap that i will escort you to personally. i will take off work and play! and we will bask in the bama sun and drink beers and get rowdy
i’ve never met them but i bet we can get rhiannon (from liebemarlene) in atlanta and the gal from hippiefroufrou.blogspot.com (don’t know her name) who lives in tuscaloosa (a mere 45 mins from me) to put you up so you can tour the southeast!!!
pleeeeaaaassseee!
If you come anywhere near DC, you MUST allow me to escort you to the thrifting mecca that is Unique Bazaar in Silver Spring Maryland…where I’ve recently found the perfect oxfords, the perfect vintage button-down, the perfect dorky vest, the perfect silk sweater…..For Serious, DC.
I don’t wear dresses but this is just too cute for words and would contemplate wearing a dress it would be this little one.:)
you guys are AWESOME!!!! i can’t wait to meet as many of you as possible!
thank you so much for all the tips. we’re crafting our route as we speak…
diana’s last blog post..hey folks, it’s almost midnight!
[...] after amber announced our road-trip plans for the summer, (i’ve been alternating between squealing and practice-packing for the past 2 [...]
Santa Cruz, CA:
Bargain Barn is a warehouse set up with huge bins full of clothes that, for whatever strange reasons, the Goodwill stores don’t want to sell. So while the environment isn’t the nicest, you can spend hours literally digging through clothes waist-high, and take home whatever you want for 1$ PER POUND. There’s also electronics, books, furniture, and other knick-knacks. This place is spectacular.
That being said, Santa Cruz also has the real Goodwill store (quite nice), a Salvation Army (so-so), and quite a few slightly more pricey vintage stores on the main street (Pacific). If you’re in the area I would definitely recommend stopping by our little neck of the woods (hah, literally).
Baton Rouge, LA
TIME WARP BOUTIQUE
I know it seems light years from you, but i am almost sure it’s worth it. It is by far the best vintage thrift shop i have EVER found. Plus i have a floor, yard, and pull out couch! Spanish Moon is a good music spot.
So C’monn.
Whoa! You guys totally need to check out San Diego, CA but more specifically Escondido!
It’s a random old & small ass city but We have a HUGE Amvets & Salvation Army
plus a bunch of little thrift stores around it in clusters.
I never walk out of any of them empty-handed, swear to god!
& I would be so down to clothes swap with any of you :]
Haha Escondido rules.
Hello, Miss Amber!
Your fabulous blog is always incredibly informative and amusing, and has most certainly become my primary spot of the vast and wide internets to indulge in my daily (and sometimes hourly) hip and thrifty fashion fix.
But all jabbering adoration aside, I must insist that you ladies pay a visit to the best (in my humble opinion) thrifting and vintage huntin’ in our own US of A: Tampa Bay, Florida.
Once one sets aside that exhaused notion of Florida being a tropical paraside comprised of sandy beaches and bikini-clad darlings, the REAL Florida can make itself known: endless kitschy pit-stops and attractions, like Dinosaur World and other fablously-run-down “theme” parks centered on animal personification (Ahem…Gatorland?), cute and quaint small towns, and of course…overflowing amounts of Snowbirds and permanently-settled old people. Which causes the most glorious attraction of all: loads of excellent, knock-your-american-apparel-socks-off thriftage!
Think about it…the sunny, glowing beacon of Florida attracts old ladies by the truckloads, who wind up yielding (or should I say, christening) the local Goodwill with their ultra snazzy vintage wardrobes. The income of these goods is so large, in fact, that some lovely thrift stores in my area have created large and bargain-priced vintage sections. These babies, from my experience, tend to remain fully stocked, usually until myself and friends clean ‘em out.
So this is my petition for sunny, lovely Florida. Most of the hip goddesses I know and love reside in St. Petersburg. Many are pioneers in the thrifty fashion world themselves, and very accomodating, so I forsee that something could be worked out
I don’t think you’d regret, even and incie wiencie bit, coming down here.
<3 Sarah
SarahSaurus’s last blog post..Vintage 70s Knit Space Dyed EARTH TONES Sweater Duster
flagstaff AZ. savers thrift department store. west side goodwill on route 66.
st petersburg florida has so many thrift stores it’s absurd.
thrift city usa in pinellas
salvation army and part on 66 st.
all the goodwills.
Come to Fayetteville, AR! Women’s Wear Daily rated the University of Arkansas here as #6 in its list of TOP 10 OF “AMERICA’S MOST FASHIONABLE COLLEGES.” We’ve got great little places like Cheap Thrills and Plato’s Closet. Here’s a full list here: http://www.local540.com/marketplace/all/search/?q=thrift%20stores
Plus the town is superadorable. I hope you pop in for a visit. Feel free to email me, and we can arrange for a clothing swap and accommodations!
SEATTLE, WA!!!
Dallas…
I go to these store every two weeks. People always ask me where I get my fabulous outfits. Of course, you’ll have to sift through, but it’s worth it.
Ferguson Thrift Store
2424 Gus Thomasson Road,
Dallas, TX 75228
(214) 319-7566
Casa View Thrift
2303 Gus Thomasson Rd
Dallas, TX 75228
Avoid:
Dallasvintageshop.Com
1706 K Avenue, Plano, TX 75074 zip code
They are way overpriced and really more for costumes, like cliche costumes. Not worth it.
Love your blog,
Sweet
Sweet Lora’s last blog post..Thank you. You’re welcome. Bend over. Fuck off.