Interest in vintage fashion and geographical location

pauline

pauline

Registered Guest
I do not know if there is any logic behind this thinking about vintage enthusiast and geographical location.
I have noticed here and with some other vintage forums I belong to that the majority of members live in the south of the UK I know that the south is more populated per square mile than for example Scotland so it is logical to say that the total number of people interested in vintage within Scotland will less than other area.
Saying that I have to yet see some counties mention at all.
Have you found areas in your country where vintage attract not as much interest as other parts?
 
I live outside NYC... And there is not much interest in it. But 15 minutes away in NYC there is alot of interest.

The only interest here is to resell on ebay. And the people who live here are so status oriented they buy all new stuff for only the best stores.... Its depressing..... The teenagers do buy vintage though but they move away to college.

-Chris
 
Smack dab in the middle of the US here, railroad and ag town, blue collar, factories and people just raising families and trying to live the good life.

There is a smattering (ok, 3 so far counting me) of vintage enthusiasts, a few historical type ladies, too.
The vintage interest in our neighboring college town seems geared towards goth and 70s hippie.

Good for me for buying opportunities, if I can get people to know that there is value to Granny's dresses. Not a fat chance in heck a vint only store would fly.

Jenn
 
l live in the north of cumbria, the largest uk county (stsate) which had the least population, the joke is there are mor cattle and sheep then humans, which is possibly true..
the majority of my customers would be from out fot he county and indeed if l think about this it would be true to say that my customers would be based in the south and midlands...and indeed more international sales than even cumbria!
l am from kent originally and if l moved back l would be more inclined and encouraged to open a B&M (always makes me think S&M when l write that!!LOL) shop....to open one here would not be as good a biz proposition in reality.....(dont tell my Dh this...he knows it, but he didnt hear it form me...as l'm always going on about opening one, if only to store my stock properly!! HIS bugbear the room it takes up)

anyway l'm digressing as per norm' so should end it here...
 
In Scotland, it's undoubtedly the biggest cities (Glasgow and Edinburgh) that have the most vintage shops and therefore I’d assume the most vintage enthusiasts. There is currently no vintage shops where I live (fife) and not even any in Dundee, which I think is a real shame. I'd love to remedy that one day! I think there is plenty of people interested in vintage clothing in fife however. for example, a charity shop I go to in St Andrews now has it's own vintage section! They have all different tags, and whoever is picking out the vintage is doing a good job, even if they aren't dated on the label. This has obviously been created out of a demand for vintage clothing in the area. I think a lot of people outside big cities are just not as aware of vintage clothing as people who are, either because there isn’t a vintage shop in their area, or they don't really understand what it's about.
 
I think it should be as simple as Harriet says with a certain percentage of ladies been interested in vintage fashions (even if that percentage is small compared to the total number of women) because every lady wears either for just one example shorts, trousers, skirts or a dress and vintage comes in every price band and such a wide range of styles there has to be something for every one.

Or are we today so much more inclined to go for the newest and latest fashion than in previous decades.

In reality I bet there are hot spots for vintage fashions, OK Universities alter the population make up of certain towns at some periods in the years on the other hand some towns have a reputation for an aging population also.

Another point which Rosine / sarasattic has pointed out about big cities and with a larger population makes a vintage shop more viable than small area.

Who know I know answer or real conclusion apart from that I get the impression interest in vintage is sort of patchy.
 
When I was selling vintage all the time on eBay I found that most of my sales went to the perimeter of the U.S. -- up the west coast, around the great lakes and down the eastern seaboard from New Hampshire to Florida. I sold almost nothing to those square shaped states in the middle with the exception of a few sales to Colorado and Nevada. I can't remember if I ever sold anything to Iowa, Kansas or Nebraska. The deep south was difficult too, although i did sell a lot to Georgia and Virginia and a few things to Mississippi.

In Canada, I sell mostly to Toronto and Vancouver (and their environs) with some sales to Montreal. I have had some sales to the prairies but they have been spotty and were usually things like old clothing catalogues or militaria rather than fashion items.

Now I did travel through Winnipeg once a few years ago and cleaned up at the vintage clothing and thrift stores. I found great stuff! I also found great stuff in Northern California which really surprised me. These are areas where I thought there would be enough interest in vintage to clean out the stores of good stuff that was reasonably priced.

As someone who has been collecting for over 25 years now, the frustrating part of all the interest in vintage is that even just ten years ago you could shop for great stuff as along as your money held out. I often had to decide what to put back because my money ran out before good quality, reasonably priced items did. Now however, I go into stores and I find it difficult to find anything I like or isn't priced insanely. There is a whole new breed of buyers out there that don't collect but like the novelty of a vintage piece here or there, largely because the magazines keep touting about how Demi Moore or Nicole Kidman appeared in some vintage dress at some function. In the 80s I knew lots of women who only bought vintage because it was cheap and fun -- it ain't so cheap no more!
 
I am smack dab in the middle of the US in Wichita Kansas. Yes, that podunk little town with horse drawn carriages and cows running down main street! :D Just Kidding! We have about 350,000 people here. We have a vintage store that has been around forever. I remember buying a 50's black illusion lace dress for $20 about 13 years ago. Times sure have changed! She does a good local business and also sells online. Another person just opened up a vintage store downtown and is doing really well. She can't keep up. (She does not sell on ebay but has her own website). There are also several antique malls with dealers selling vintage. It is very very difficult to find good vintage at thrift stores here. You get lucky once in awhile but they are usually cleaned out pretty regularly. I get most of my stuff from estate sales. I have sold all over the world. My most recent purchase went to Poland (a first for me). Most of my international buyers are from the UK. Here in the states I sell mostly to the coasts but I've sold to about every state at one time or another.
Carrie
 
I sell almost nothing in my home state or city, and yet there are 2 very nice vintage shops here and always another cheezy one coming or going.

But on the whole, vintage isn't big in the Deep South. Although the cities can do well- Atlanta, New Orleans, Charleston for example.

Hollis
 
I'm in Western North Carolina, near Asheville. In my little town, I'm sure most people would think it a bit odd to think that someone might actually want their 30+ year old clothes. I have a really hard time explaining my business!

But 20 miles away in Asheville, vintage is very popular. There are 5 vintage clothing stores, 2 of which have been in business for years, and which do quite well. Asheville is a very small city, about 72,000 population, but it's not your typical Southern city, with a reputation for having an "open and accepting character of the city is evidenced by the diversity of lifestyles and beliefs that coexist peacefully there." That's from Wikipedia.

A woman opened a very up-scale vintage store in Hendersonville (large retirement town nearby) in 2005, and it lasted exactly 1 year. At first she did very well, but then business just died. I don't think she would have been successful even in Asheville, as here prices were more in line with what you might expect to pay in Atlanta. But the funky spots I shop at in Asheville wouldn't work there either. It really does depend on your population.
 
You know, given the luck Ang (Dorotheascloset) has had with walk ins wanting to sell her vintage, I wonder if having a storefront and still sell mostly online with wouldn't be a bad idea. Buildings are cheap here. :eureka:

Oh, but then I'd have to deal with people. :no:
 
Jenn -- I've been considering that, too. I've been setting up more of a "boutique" atmosphere when we sell at the local flea markets (Marie has seen it in action now! Argh! We should have taken pictures! LOL!)
I don't think the city we're in now would support such a place... but maybe Long Beach would? We plan on moving back there eventually. There are a fair amount of vintage stores in LB already, but they're all more geared towards the ROckabilly crowd.
I dunno... maybe it wouldn't work. I've had so many stores already! It's a LOT of work!

I have considered if it would be worthwhile here to find a less conspicuous spot to have a space here in this town -- maybe a "by appointment" place. That way i could get all this stuff OUT of my house and work from the store.. and maybe it would encourage people to still bring stuff to me?
 
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