Do You Vintage?

A dear friend of mine goes to vintage/resale stores all the time where, sometimes, she purchases and sometimes she sells. A recent, favorite blog discovery (Already Pretty) features some spectacular vintage and resale jewelry, accessories, and clothing pieces that truly add personality and flair to the blog author's daily outfit looks. So I decided I wanted to get in the vintage fun too!

Now, it's no surprise that during times of economic hardship, curtailing unnecessary expenses and even selling to help make ends meet are two invaluable practices. But I find no better incentive to trying out vintage than 1) saving money while purchasing 2) new favorites that will last me a lifetime, while at the same time 3) helping support a local store, artist, or supplier.

Vintage and Resale Galore
What do I know about resale and vintage shops? That they usually congregate at young/up-and-coming neighborhoods, that there's many on the West Coast (think Oregon and L.A.), and that you have to have A LOT of patience to go through racks and shelves worth of stuff with hidden potential gems.

Well, surprise, surprise there is a great resale shop across the street from the subdivision I live in. And another surprise, the racks are spectacularly well arranged by size and sometimes even style (career, casual, dressy).

I recently noticed a few resale stores while driving through our area:

• a brand new Habitat for Humanity ReSale store on E. New York Street on the outskirts of Westfield Fox Valley in Aurora
• Out of the Attic Antiques off E. New York Street on the outskirts of Westfield Fox Valley in Aurora
• Clothes Mentor on Rt. 59 in Naperville
• newcomer Savers on Rt. 59 near Target in Naperville
• already-existing Goodwill store on Fort Hill Drive by car dealership row on Aurora Avenue in Naperville
• Plato's Closet on Rt. 59 near Joann Fabrics and Wal-Mart in Naperville
• Serendipity Resale shop on Jefferson Avenue in Naperville
• A-1 Antiques on Washington Street in Naperville

I'm sure there's plenty more, just waiting to be discovered. My dear friend has mentioned that there are a number of similar stores in our area. I must investigate!


Artists and Designers
I already know of Aurora downtown's art community, which feature a variety of incredibly talented and diverse artists. Lisa Gloria, is one such artist, she recently had to close shop at her 7 West studio (part gallery, part shop), which really demoralized a lot of us who wanted to visit on a weekly basis but were unable to. However, Lisa and others are strong presences in most of the art-related events in downtown Aurora, such as the Downtown Aurora Arts Mixer (DAAM) and the Alley Art Festival.

In nearby Naperville there's the Naperville Art League's Riverwalk Art Fair, Naperville Woman's Club Fine Art Fair, and a number of little sidewalk sales in the spring and summer.

Where to Start?
I'm making this my project for this fall. I am going to start listing any resale or vintage stores and artist groups in my area. I plan to research as much I can about them online and via review websites. I then hope to make my way around and visiting some of these groups and their events.