Vintage Shopping in New York City

So, we're nothing if not punctual. We went to New York for my 30th birthday last April, and only now am I getting around to writing my blog post about it! We did a bit of vintage shopping in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and bought some nice pieces for ourselves and for you, which are now available to buy in our ASOS boutique.

As always, this isn't meant to be a definitive guide to vintage shopping in this amazing city, it's just a little look at some places we visited and enjoyed, which you might want to check out if you are heading to the Big Apple. We found that the prices for vintage were very variable, in fact quite a few of the shops were really rather expensive. As always we were on the hunt for maximum bargains, and those don't seem to be as easy to come by as you might expect. It's not hard to find vintage in New York, but it is a little harder to find those affordable gems, so we were glad that before we went we studied a few great guides that we found online: Broke In The City, Business Insider's 12 Best Flea Markets and Time Out's Best Vintage Stores.

In Manhattan we found that a lot of the vintage and consignment shops tend to be quite upscale and pricey, ideal if you are hunting down a designer handbag or something but less good for cheap vintage bargains. We were impressed with the East Village Thrift Shop though (186 2nd Ave, between 11th and 12th St), where we managed to pick up some good kitsch t shirts, and a few designer dresses for reasonable prices.  I'm sure there are a lot of other great vintage treasure troves on Manhattan that we just didn't get a chance to track down, please comment with any tips you can share!

Something that you really should check out but unfortunately we ran out of time to see is the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, which is on every Saturday and Sunday all year at West 39th Street between 9th & 10th Avenues. We have spoken to several friends who highly recommended it.

Brooklyn is definitely the honeypot of vintage in NYC. Every other shop seems to be a vintage shop, and it's lots of fun to explore as each one has its own unique vibe, though the prices and quality are variable. Beacon's Closet (88 North 11th St) is one of the big names in vintage, a place that all of our friends recommended to us before we went to New York. Was is good? We have no idea, we were, ahem, slightly distracted by the sweet smell of Brooklyn Brewery just a stone's throw away. Sorry. We'd recommend the brewery though, they do a great free tour! By the time we finished there we were running late to meet friends for dinner and had to skip Beacon's Closet, which was a shame. A good reason to go back though, right?

A couple of shops in Brooklyn that we particularly enjoyed (and they are right next to each other, bonus!) were Junk (500 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn) and Buffalo Exchange (504 Driggs Avenue). Junk pretty much does what it says on the tin, it's a living example of that old adage, one man's junk is another man's treasure! There is a good mix of furniture, homewares, books, some clothes and all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff, none of which was expensive. It's the kind of place that makes you wish you had an apartment in Brooklyn just so you could fill it with all kinds of odd stuff.

Buffalo Exchange is actually a US chain of shops which sell vintage and used clothing, people can bring in their old clothes and sell them for cash or store credit. We found the prices were the best here of all the places we visited, and the staff were ultra friendly, recommending other shops we should check out and nearby spots for lunch. All the stock was presented really nicely and we picked up some lovely pieces for ourselves, including a wicker handbag for $11.

Finally, we checked out the Brooklyn Flea.We actually found it a bit disappointing, as we found that while there was lots of lovely stuff, the majority of it was sooo expensive! Still nice for a look around though,

So, what treasures did we pick up in NYC? Apart from a few pieces we have sold at vintage fairs, the New York haul is now available to buy on ASOS Marketplace, and we have an amazing David Bowie T Shirt on eBay. So even if you can't get over there yourself and get shopping you can have a little vintage slice of the big apple from us.

Vintage Treasure Hunting At Malvern Flea

We had a lovely day out at Malvern Flea on Bank Holiday Monday. I've written about it before, but if you missed it I'll fill you in - it's a big flea market that happens about once a month at the Three Counties Showground near Malvern, in Worcestershire. The stalls can vary massively in price, and vary from proper antiques through collectables to pretty much junk. We tend to focus on the 'pretty much junk' end of the scale, as we love bargains above all else! Here are some of the weird and wonderful things we spotted. (Apologies, the picture quality isn't great, I snapped them all on my iPhone as I didn't want to be lugging around my DSLR all day!)

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, we really did see a real stuffed bear, several rocking horses and disembodied legs, a kettle that looks like an apple, a surprised stuffed fox, Paul Daniels' Mystery Box, the Knight Rider annual, giant letters, and lots of cute doll related stuff. What more could you want from a day out, eh?!

It's such a fun place to visit as you really never know what you might find. Here's what we took home with us...

I'm a sucker for a bit of Cornish blue, those lovely blue and white stripes just look so homely and comforting. This teacup and saucer set was just £3.

These pretty embroidered tablecloths were just £3 each, I love the vibrant colours. They may be playing a part in our wedding... but that's another story for another day.

These (very creased) vivid green floral curtains are massive (actually too big for our bay window, I'm going to have to hem them) and bold and bright and happy and lovely. I'll have to post another picture when they are up.

These glass bottles are for a top secret wedding project which I can't speak any more about at the moment! I'm collecting lots of varied bottles and vases in a range of colours, which is a lot of fun. I love these medicine bottles and the beer bottle from Newport.

Finally, probably our most exciting purchase of the day, four 1970's retro garden chairs for £30.

I think we did pretty well, but managed to be pretty restrained at the same time. I could have come home with about a million things very easily. Have you ever visited Malvern Flea? Or can you recommend a must visit flea market near you?

Feeling Thrifty: Recent Charity Shop Bargains

I don't get to take a look around the charity shops as often as I would like these days, but a couple of weekends ago we found ourselves at a loose end and decided to head to Shirley high street (our local shopping centre, just outside Birmingham) to have a good old browse. The charity shops in Shirley are usually pretty good, it's a nice area with seemingly quite a high number of retired people, and I find that these factors tend to lead to a good amount of nice vintage stuff in the charity shops! If you live in the Birmingham area I would certainly recommend checking out the charity shops in Shirley.

I picked up these fruity glasses in Cancer Research, who were having a clear out ahead of a shop refit, which meant I got these babies for a bargainous 10p each! As soon as I spotted them in the bargain bin I had to sweep in and make them mine!

A few doors down at Age Concern I found this adorable little Thermos cool bag. I love the shades of blue and the pretty floral print. We took it away with us to the Retro Festival and it actually did a very nice job of keeping things cool. It looks super cute in our little caravan too.

Another Cancer Research 10p bargain, this kitsch little Spanish souvenir is perfect for storing our keys in the hallway. And we've both been to Salou in our younger days so it brings back nice memories too.

I'm a sucker for a good handbag, and even though I have a perfectly good selection already, I couldn't resist this lovely chocolate brown delight. I love the 1970's satchel style shape, and it is the perfect size. It was £15, which is quite a bit for a charity shop bag, but I would have paid that without thinking in a vintage shop and the condition is great. It's making me excited for autumn outfit planning!

This cocktail tray from PDSA was quite a find, again at £4.99 it wasn't cheap, but as soon as we saw it we wanted it. At first I thought it was modern but in a fifties style, but looking at the mark on the back on the sticker confirmed that it is actually pretty old. Perhaps we need to throw a cocktail party now?

I have a bit of a thing for kitschy little animal ornaments and coloured glass, so I am always finding ways to feed my habit. This cake tray is so pretty in this vivid pink and the little cat and dog (who do look a bit grumpy, I'll admit!) were only £1.50 each and are just so cute. The little deer came from the Sheffield Vintage Fair a while back and makes me smile each time I walk past him on the hallway windowsill.

So that's it. I could easily fill my house five times over with charity shop bits and bobs so it is probably for the best that I don't get the chance to go too often! Do you have any favourite charity shop finds?