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The Thrift Shop Maniac takes on Center City

What's Old Is New, And What's New Is…

What was once considered jaw dropping attire anywhere but the privacy of home, PJ bottoms and Uggs have become de rigueur attire for many coffee shop customers sipping that first cup of Joe. Once the surge kicks in, then on to yoga or workout clothes, or perhaps jeans and blazers. Outside an ever-dwindling core of center city blocks, it's increasingly unusual to spot women or men wearing traditional business suits.

David, manager of Briar Vintage, sits dapper and resplendent behind the register here at 62 North 3rd Street, 19106. Sporting a tie collar bar (high on the knot, straddling the collar), nubby grey wool shawl collar sweater, matching mid-grey button-down shirt and tie, and immaculately maintained 30's slicked do, short on the sides, high on top.

We gossip. We banter. Time falls away. Enveloped, as we are in this miniaturized remake of an old Hollywood movie set. Hermetically sealed off from fleece and spandex, he's planning his next sartorial coup. Proud, and rightly so, of his fashion sense and gorgeous surroundings, David is also slightly miffed. Briar's pickers have criss-crossed this country (and Canada) searching for and amassing these hard won finds. And they are a revelation. Authentic, immaculate vintage men's attire purchased at auction and estate sales, and of a scope and quality rivaling Ralph Lauren's entire marketing-driven empire built on his retrospective vision of The American Male, but offered here in Old City, Philly, or as David dishes, "The sweatsuit capital of the world."

Find Briar Vintage in My MilkCrate here.

Sazz Vintage, Briar's 'sister' store, located next door at 60 North 3rd Street, 19106, complements and expands on the vintage theme and inventory, but here predominantly women's. Overflow of men's high school and college letter sweaters from next door fill one rack. Back in the day, excluded from most competition and unable to earn their own athletic achievement letter, girls would compete against each other to win over a boy and wear his sweater. Here you can buy one for yourself, ladies.

On another rack hang sunny, happy colored cotton summer dresses, wistfully referred to back in the day as frocks, looking for all the world like they should be hung out to dry on a clothesline, fluttering in the wind.

Men's and women's Irish wool sweaters, a massive wall display of belt buckles, a circular rack of rare to quirky to classic (and pricey) big name rock n' roll band vintage T's, cowboy boots, and circle skirts round out the collection. I'm absolutely certain, as times and trends evolve, the inventory will, too.

Find Sazz Vintage in My MilkCrate here.

More Than Old, 144-146 North 3rd Street, 19106. Have I stumbled into a gallery? Large beautiful rooms in classic brick wall warehouse redo. Whether small pieces of secondhand art or bric-a-brac, or large pieces of furniture, all are beautifully displayed, immaculately cleaned and polished and set, just so, each in carefully measured relationship to the next. Pamela, the forthcoming manager (a former foodie), warmly meets and greets. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, most secondhand pieces here evoked random flea market goods. And I'm not talking HGTV's Flea Market Flip with Laura Spencer. Willow ware and a few Fiesta dishes, unused tea towels sporting cavorting cats, mugs with tigers and more mugs with domestic cats, glass and china animal and clown curios, random this displayed next to random that. Mixed in? Sparkling, beautiful new art glassware and scattered about and among, locally wrought craft pieces. Okay, maybe. But, overall?

Scanning, online reviews and websites for background info, only two bland customer comments popped up, unlike the usual and predictable continuum of 'I adored it because…', or 'I hated it when...' Unusual for a shop after fourteen years in the biz.

The only rare or notable I discerned? Newbie, the stoic black and white shop cat in residence from day one, and a majestic but battered wooden hoist and pulley, vestige of the building's former whiskey warehouse days, on view, like a rare piece of sculpture, set behind the sliding glass doors of the courtyard. What did I miss? Perhaps it was just the luck of the draw. TIP: First Friday participant.

Find More Than Old in My MilkCrate here.

Traveling uptown, Sophisticated Seconds, 2019 Sansom Street, 19103, reminds me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, neither too hot nor too cold, but just right. This consignment shop ranged in price and quality from men's traditional work clothes (shirts $15-$17) and weekend wardrobe, to brimming racks of women's day into evening wear with a smattering of celebrity designer names.

I found myself wishing my daughter could model (and purchase?) the gorgeous size 8 Lanvin wool, velvet and crepe, three-tiered vintage cocktail dress (initially $360, still heady even with the 40 percent markdown) or the two-piece, cable stitch wool Missoni in cranberry red (originally $154, but now also on deep sale).

TIP: Small, prominently placed signs with rotating multi-colored price tags, announce the current 20 percent to 40 percent markdowns, laser focusing and inciting my urge to go spelunking.

I emerged victorious with a patch pocket, cream colored, boiled wool jacket, an unworn, gracefully draped red top with it's original $88 price tag still attached, and a tooled red leather shoulder bag, all for $66, after discount. Original retail? I'm guessing $400 to $450. Not bad.

Dated shoes mostly a bust. Pocketbooks and jewelry abound. Overall? More classic than hip. More go-to basic than chic. More mid-range prices than nosebleed. Inventory could use a good pruning. Or a more manageable stable of consignors than the 8,000 given bragging rights on their webpage.

TIP: Niche consignment shops filtering thru 'hip' or 'chic,' either inadvertently because of location and zip code, or intentionally by store policy, can be stylistically and thematically dense, but predictable, even exclusionary. You have to want their look, and you have to be able to afford their price point.

Here? You may not score every visit. Here? Like your favorite armchair, this two-room-deep shop has a comfortable lived-in vibe, confirming that old adage 'the boss sets the tone.' The owner kindly and seamlessly juggled an inexplicable, rough looking dude hanging around and a returning customer, both waiting outside in the cold for opening (three minutes early), a disabled layaway customer, me (undercover), and a new consignor. Even if I had come up empty, I enjoyed the ever so slightly unkempt, just off the beaten track vibe a shop like this gives for its inclusive bandwidth of customers, budgets and tastes. TIP: Second location: 2204 South Street, 19146.

Find Sophisticated Seconds in My MilkCrate here.

Next Time: Shops that redo, rethink, repurpose or refinish second hand everything and anything, mixed in for good measure with the found and the sustainable.

To learn more about other local, sustainable businesses, resources and events, visit mymilkcrate.co. Have your own green living tips you want to share? E-mail us.