vintage tastes, retail expectations.

I went to a vintage store in Durham last weekend. I've been to stores like that before. There was a shop in Boone that was mostly clothes, like a consignment shop specializing in tacky stuff that regular consignment stores wouldn't sell. I had a certain respect for that store, as I have respect for all those who try to give new life to old stuff. But I didn't shop there much, because most of the stuff was general thrift store fare at consignment store prices. I could buy that Foreigner shirt from the tour of '83 for $15, or I could just find a Journey shirt from the '85 tour at a thrift store for a buck. To buy something at the vintage store, it would have to be special enough that I could overcome the nagging feeling that I would find something just as good at a yard sale the next week.

This Durham store was a lot like that. There was a ton of really cool crap, and another ton of less cool crap. There were clothes and tacky souvenirs, a whole room full of holographic Jesus pictures, jewelry made from old toys and bottle caps. There was a small rug featuring the likeness of John F. Kennedy and a Pee Wee Herman pull-string doll. But it was all overpriced.

There were several boxes of vintage stationery, and you know how much I love vintage stationery. They were boxed cards, like the type your grandmother might buy once a year to have enough to send to each of her grandchildren. One box was really sweet, with animals in 1970s colors. Inside, there was some sort of cutting and coloring craft project that you could do with the card. The box was $12. Are you kidding me? I would pay $1 for that. Secondhand shopping being what it is, I will probably never find those exact cards at a thrift store. But I'll find some that will please me just as much. Buying used has already acquainted me with the idea that I may not find the exact thing (the perfect size, the perfect color, etc.), but I will usually find something good enough, with the low price making up the difference.

Vintage stores make promises that they can't keep. They promise me that they are like a thrift store, except everything is cool. They promise to be like the ultimate yard sale. But they let me down by disregarding some of the very reasons that I like secondhand stuff in the first place. To me, there are four reasons to buy used.

1. Cheaper.
2. Treasure hunting fun.
3. Sense of history in the items.
4. Very green, because you're reusing or recycling or reducing, whichever one it is.

Stores like that take away two out of the four reasons. It's not really cheaper than buying retail, and it's many times more expensive than buying used at a thrift store or a yard sale. And there is no treasure hunting to it at all. If you find something at a vintage store, it's not a "find." That's like calling something at the jewelry counter at Macy's a find. You didn't find it, it was put there on display. Going to a bunch of thrift stores and finding a sweet pair of earrings under a bunch of stuff that used to be at the jewelry counter at Macy's is a find. Maybe I subscribe too much to the belief that something should be hard to get to be valuable.

Basically, you're paying for someone else to do the hard work of rounding up this stuff. Frankly, I'd rather save the money and do it myself. Vintage stores are for people with vintage tastes, but retail expectations. Vintage stores are for wimps. There. I said it.