After our first dusting of snow this weekend, it's finally starting to feel a bit like winter! Freezing temperatures, insane winds, ahh, winter in the city! While everyone else is looking for a partner to cuddle with this #cuffingseason and find excuses to skip plans and binge watch tv, I'm trying to find excuses to get motivated to leave my electric blanket and explore while the streets are a little less crowded. I give you: Sunday Spotlight! On Sundays this winter, I'm going to make a point to visit and explore consignment and secondhand shops that are new to me (or I have not visited in a very long time)!
Up first, THE REAL REAL
Address: 80 Wooster Street, New York NY
The Real Real is a super high end luxury consignment shop in Soho, while not brand new to me (I discovered it by chance earlier this fall while exploring Soho), it had been some time since I had been able to visit it. This was a great excuse to make a trip and "window shop" (The holidays wiped.me.out.).
A few things that make The Real Real unique:
- Free public wifi, you'd think wifi would be a given while shopping nowadays but not the case. When you log onto the wifi you will also be emailed a coupon, which is nice, because the "cheapest" things in this store are around the $250 price tag.
- They have a cafe in the basement and a private garden, with heaters!
- Transportation of clothes and purchases come in recyclable totes
- They offer services to repair high end items, purchasing secondhand items is a great sustainable practice, but repairing what you already own to extend its life is even better!
- Options for men, women and children.
In my opinion, the one downside to The Real Real is just the price point, it's not cheap, so there's not much casual shopping here if you are not a high salaried consumer (I am not!). However, everything is super high end: we're talking Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc. Fancy stuff. They thoroughly vet the pieces they consign, so if you are in the market for these types of items, this is a great place to look. Shop secondhand!
My first Sunday exploration was super fun, and I can't wait to get back out there next weekend!