Ahhh Northbridge. Either you embrace it or you stay the hell away from it. It's a shame that I have fallen into the latter over the years, because it has so much to offer. The media likes to deem it "the streets of death" which is really unfortunate, cause when I paid it a little mid-week visit with Mum for dinner and a show (yup, we got all thespian and watched a play!) I was really impressed and a little ashamed that I had bought into the whole "its too scary to visit" theory.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I used to frequent it pretty regularly a few (or so) years ago and driving through it on Wednesday brought back lots of good memories (remember Arcadia anyone?) and perhaps some I won't go into hehe (a big wink to my girl Sia here... ).
Anyhoo, it was a real treat to be able to fall in love with it again with different, older eyes. The vibe, the culture, the offerings are fabulous. It's a vegetarian's mecca for starters! And having given myself a little extra time to do some exploring before I met up with Mum, I had the express idea of checking out the Retro Vinnies Op Shop on William Street. But before I even got to that, I managed to find myself in Oh Henry Vintage... TRYING ON BATHERS. Yes, the dreaded bather shop - which ironically wasn't too dreaded as I wasn't even looking for bathers.
I tried on a heap of 50's era one-pieces and they are gorgeous; full figured gals, this is the era to get your bathers from. Celebrating all things curvy, they are still flattering and sexy at the same time. And whilst I'm no vintage expert from what I saw, these are the goer. But it seems you do need to be aware of the old cone-pointed-bra shelf in some; you might need to do a bit of reworking if pointy boobs aren't your thing (at this point, I'll suggest you hit up Kittys Vintage & Kitsch; Kitty is definitely a vintage expert, offering tutorials and buying guides on her blog that I guarantee you'll find useful).
And whilst I came across some beautiful pieces, I actually ended up coming away with an 80's number which covers all the right spots.
And so I found myself at Vinnies Retro Op Shop feeling mighty pleased with myself.
Vinnies Retro is a neat little package. The staff here have really made this place work; it's bright and really eye catching, complete with polished floor boards to add to the 'ye olde' vibe. The first thing that gets you is all the bright colours and the amazingly gaudy wedding dresses, smack bang in the middle of the store. In a nutshell however, the layout is ladies stuff in the front, men's at the back, and books, bric-a-brac and some overload of men's & ladies fuller figured sizes right up the back in another room.
I sussed out the dresses for starters and I must admit, had to gulp a couple of times when I noticed some styles that looked eerily similar to the ones I wore over 20 years ago. I'm not quite ready to start rocking those again just yet!
There's a great selection of 'everything' clothes for the ladies as well as an array of clip-on earrings, vintage bags, shoes and lingerie. Unsuprisingly I came away with a floral nanna-skirt from this section. Now I do have to warn you that with this being a little bit of a 'specialised' op shop of sorts, the prices are higher than your usual Vinnies op shops.
So while I could pay anything up to $8 for my nanna skirts in one Vinnies, in this particular shop, the price doubled. I understand the reason for the price difference, but others may not, so when you are visiting some of the more 'unique' shops, be aware of the possibility for prices to differ.
Op Shop Rule No 22: Clean Your Jewellery
Just a little hygenic rule here. I'm sure its common sense to most of you that if you buy jewellery - and I guess I'm talking earrings here - give them a bit of a clean before you go popping them in your lobes/bellybutton/lip/nose (or anywhere else for that matter!).
You can't always guarantee that the previous owner cleaned them before donating them and you can't always guarantee the op shop staff cleaned them either. And even if this has been done, even fingers can leave a little dirt, so take the 30 seconds out of your time to give it a little once over.
After inspecting the girlie section, I decided to see if the men's had anything to offer for hubby. Whilst he's not into wearing cowboy boots (man, they were cool) there were some really great shirts on offer, lots of old school patterns which, teamed with the right pants/accessories, will look pretty amazing. Also there was a good range of sizing too. Hubby is a 'little' picky when it comes to me buying his clothes (possibly because I don't always get it right) so he came away with some $5 retro sunnies instead.
I headed up the back and was pleasantly suprised to be able to fossick through a rack of clothing for the fuller figured lass, along with more men's and some retro knitwear and jackets for both. I also noted that this section had a few of the more modern labels such as Basque and Portmans. My thoughts are that some of these pieces seemed to be styled in similar fashions and/or feature colours reminiscent of the retro era, so hence their inclusion.
There's a small bric-a-brac section here where I found the prices were actually quite alright (ie an Alfred Meakin milk jug was only $8). It's here that I picked up my little 1960's beauty handbook for girls, complete with the original owner's details in the front. It's quite gorgeous really - teaching all us bad girls how to gain charm, daintiness and gossmer curls.
There's a nice little selection of old patterns, records, books, china etc and I enjoyed seeing items that would have been pride and place in Mum's kitchen cupboard 20 or so years ago. I must admit I didn't peruse the books for too long, as from what I could see they appeared to be fairly modern.
Vinnies Retro op shop is a wonderful little step back in time. It brought a smile to my dial and even if the prices are slightly higher you don't necessarily have to spend, even just browsing the racks and reminiscing is good fun here.
Oh lord, as I type the closing words of this post, my ipod is blaring Foreigner - aarrrrggh what's happening to me????
K x
Go For: 80's & a little 90's
Try Another Vinnies: Kids & 'general' op shop prices
Vinnies Retro Northbridge Centre
267B William Street
Northbridge WA 6003
www.vinnies.org.au
Open Hours: Mon-Fri 9-5pm / Sat 9-4pm / Sun Closed
CALLING ALL GUEST BLOGGERS!
A few of you suggested you might like to submit some of your own op shop reviews and being only one little gal, I can't always get to 'em all! So it makes sense that you guys add to the mix! Whether you're across the Narrows Bridge or across the Nullabor, I'd love to feature your thoughts on your own local oppies.
All you need to do is submit your post to yougotthatatanopshop@live.com along with at least four images (these can be pics of your finds and any in-store or signage you think is relevant). I'll need the pics to be at least 300dpi. If you have any questions, of course you can email me at the same address or touch base via the facebook page.
Now, go get thrifting!