Vintage Shopping in New York City (This round changed my perspective!)

This place is massive. I think when it comes to vintage or thrifting in New York City... Yo, what is going on everyone? It's been a minute since I've made a thrifting slash vintage shopping video. In fact, since moving to New York City, I don't think I've made a video of this sort, so it's long overdue. The last time I went thrifting and or vintage shopping in the city, I wasn't really able or successful. I didn't really find anything. So today, we're giving everything a second shot. A butterfly just went by. It was really beautiful. Right now, we are on the sunny Upper West Side. We have the Museum of Nature and History and Science. I think that's what it's called. I don't actually know behind me. It's going to be a really fun video. We're going to start off at the Grand Bazaar. Lauren's in the park over there waiting for me, so let's go catch up with her and then get to some thrifting. I almost forgot to say my iconic intro. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Drew. What it do? It's nice to meet you. Let's go find some gems. The Grand Bazaar is right across the street. Let's head in. Let's see if we can find anything. So this was our second time visiting the Grand Bazaar, and this week's theme was vintage, which was so perfect on so many levels. We started searching more seriously indoors because it was blaringly, blazingly hot outside. I had never been inside to this section of the flea market before, and I think that this building is just a school when it's not the Grand Bazaar. The focus of our hunting was centered around four main themes. One, I'm looking for some level of denim shorts or jorts. Two, I'm looking for rings and or jewelry accessories. Three, time pieces, so watches, etc. And four, Lauren wanted some sort of interesting and fun pair of socks. When I go shopping, I try to be specific like this, so I don't waste time looking at other things. But inevitably, of course, when you stumble upon something cool and unique, you have to stop and give it its time of the day. And in a place like the Grand Bazaar, it's going to happen a lot. So here's how I would summarize my hunt at the Grand Bazaar. It was overwhelming. With flea markets in New York City on the weekend on a nice day, you have to expect a crowd, but it was packed to the max. It honestly made the experience a bit overstimulating for me. I didn't find anything that was so amazing that I had to have. But overall, I mean, while it was overwhelming, it was still very fun getting the chance to shop around on such a nice day in New York City. I still can't believe I say I live here. It's unbelievable. And it was just fun to like be here. Here, shoot. So we just finished up at the Grand Bazaar. And to say that place is overwhelming would be an understatement, right? It's pretty crazy the amount of stuff that they have to sift through, to look through, to pick at at that market. It's like a it's a weekly market. So and it's a beautiful day today. And so it's incredibly packed, difficult to film, difficult to just to do anything there. I think before we head to our next spot, we're going to grab some food. Because we're both hungry. Lauren's hungry. Lauren's very hungry. Probably could still hear. I'm hungry myself. Wasn't able to find anything because it's just overwhelming. Like it's just a lot going on. But I have hopes for, I have high hopes for our next couple of spots. So let's head over to eat. One street up and come one street. Today's shop is going to be really, really cool. I'm very, very excited to show you guys. Instead of the Upper West Side today, we're on the Upper East Side. And this next shop, which I was trying to say in the previous clips, is a shop that I've been to a few times. It's where I get some of my ties. So I'm excited to come back and see if they have any new accessories that would be really interesting for me. It's right around the corner here. It's a lively day in New York City. If you see a little bit of sweat, it's because it's hot. I've been walking. I've been talking. Let's go to Gentleman's Resale. Simple name, fire stuff. This is such a cool shop and it has a lot of things to distract you. Let's remember our objective. Jorts, some type of ring or accessory and a watch or timepiece of some sort. Or something cool like this Drake's fleece, which I don't need for the summer here in New York City. But it's definitely very cool. So one of the things that I love about Gentleman's Resale is that it's sort of a hidden gem. Coming to the Upper East Side from Brooklyn or from even lower Manhattan is a bit of a trip. So you have less of the fashion-y fashion people coming here to look through these shows. What I will say is that the curation here tends to lean towards more capital F luxury fashion brands. But I was even able to find Silver's Denim, which is cool. I love their selection of ties. I spoke about that earlier. And I even found this really interesting Polo Ralph Lauren stripe button down. I appreciate that. I feel like whenever I visit Gentleman's Resale, I always leave a couple of goodies. I don't want to spoil the surprise. We're going to leave all the pickups to the end of this video. Let's make our train so we can get back home. And then tomorrow I got two more stops for you that I'm super excited to share with you about. Our little vintage thrift hunt, man. It wasn't off to a good start at the Grand Bazaar, unfortunately. Couldn't really find too much. But I feel like things are finally turning around, which is good. I think when it comes to vintage or thrifting in New York City, a lot of it still is pretty picked over. Just because the city has so many people in it, has so many different individuals who care about vintage. And as a result, you have an issue of supply and demand. But with places like Gentleman's Resale, I feel like it's a bit more low-key, a bit more underrated. Making the trip all the way up here to the Upper East Side isn't the fastest trip of all. So sometimes you have to deal with traveling pretty far, depending on where you live in the city. But at the same time, it's always worth it whenever you're able to find something that you actually like or you think is good or you care about. So now we head home. Lauren's waiting for me. We're going to a thing in the city called Sleep No More later today, which is like this crazy kind of active or interactive play. We'll take these goodies back home and then we'll see you tomorrow. Shop number three and four. I'm out here with my vlog camera and these dogs are like looking at me. Let me try to show you. So yesterday we were on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, respectively, the last two days. Today we're in Brooklyn, one of my absolute favorite places to be for a few reasons, more than one. Today we're going to be going to two different thrifts. I guess more vintage shops than thrift shops. These two shops include Chickies Vintage. I've been here before. Really great shop. And then we're going to go to Grant Street Local. It should be a lot of fun today. It's beautiful outside. Again, spring has sprung a bit cooler. So I have this like crazy rig situation going on where I'm doing POV shots. It's a lot of fun. I'm excited. You should be excited. Let's see if we can find some more interesting pieces here in Brooklyn. So Chickies has a menswear section and a womenswear section, but apparently the menswear store is closed today and it opens later on this week. The womenswear store, the womenswear section is right there. I saw some stuff that, you know, maybe I could peep a little bit, but I'm going to try to convince them to see if they can let me see slash sample the menswear store. Wish me luck for the sake of this video and for the sake of my vintage shopping tour, man. I mean, what are we going to do if Chickies isn't open? I came all the way to Chickies and I can't even go. That's crazy. This might be a huge ask. Would there be any way you can open up the menswear store for me to check it out? No. Thursday. Because I came all this way to make the video about Chickies. My attempt to go to Chickies was sort of a fail because I wanted to take you guys to the menswear store. Couldn't get into the menswear store. I didn't realize that it wasn't open until Thursday. It's Tuesday, the day I'm recording this. So, but it wasn't too busy in there. I was kind of hoping she would let me, but I know she's doing her job. I know she's doing her job. Right now, we're on our way to Grant Street Local. I just checked on my phone. That is open right now. It should be, hopefully, fingers crossed, it should be good. There shouldn't be any more mishaps. Gentleman's Resale was closed when I came. Chickies closed when I came. I just spit so much that was nasty. And then the Grand Bazaar was so packed that made it almost impossible to find anything. So, regardless, we'll figure it out. Also, it's been so long since I've vlogged that I keep looking to the side at the flip out screen instead of looking at you guys. But I know you guys are still here with me in this video. It's been a process. Your boy is a bit rusty when it comes to being outside, filming with the camera. It's not as forte. It's not as comfortable as it used to be for some of my earlier videos. So, what we're going to do, especially here in New York City where there's people all around, you kind of have to have a different level of confidence to come out here and do this. And right now, I'm faking it until I make it. But it's fun. We're having a good time. It's beautiful outside. So, can't complain about anything. Look at this bakery. Look at this bakery I just walked by. Another reason why I love New York City, there's so many just different nooks and crannies and little things always happening. Grand Street Local is right across the street. Let's go check it out. See, I knew that this would be the perfect shop to end this video. Right now, I'm looking at a lot of things that I love. I'm gonna spend a couple hours here. I already know. Let's see if we can bring anything home to the personal collection. I feel like I want this to be slightly bigger in the body. It's just a little bit tight. And it makes sense. I think it's a 1970s souvenir tee from Korea. So, just think of a medium and a Korean body type. And it probably wasn't built for someone like myself. But really cool top nonetheless. You can kind of see it better like that. Appreciate it dearly. I'll be back soon, trust me. I'll be back. So, that was Grand Street Local. Let's get back home so I can take you through all the items that I picked up and to give you my recap of this entire experience. That was a cool shop for sure. I was walking towards the water here in Williamsburg and I stumbled across another vintage spot called Vintage Clothing near me. I thought, why don't we check it out? I don't know anything about it, but it looks kind of cool. I stumbled in. I walked in and walked back out to film this. But let me take you along with me and let's go check it out. Let's get a word in for today's sponsor, Squarespace. Are you interested in making your very own website for a brand or creative project? Squarespace offers a comprehensive amount of features to help you create the website that you've always wanted. If you want to sell your products direct to consumer or if you want to showcase your body of work, Squarespace makes it easy to do that and more. Currently, I'm using my Squarespace website as a hub for all of my content and as a way to direct those interested to my podcast and social media. If you needed a sign to help nudge you into creating your first website, this is your sign. Visit squarespace.com slash drewjoiner for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. All right, so we're back home. Hopefully, you guys have been enjoying this video up until this point. It's been fun to make. Got some goodies as you can see here. I would say this time around, vintage shopping, thrifting in New York City, it was a total different experience than it was a year or so ago. To succinctly give my recap of the time spent, for one, it was a lot more fun knowing that I basically have all the time in the world. If you give yourself a lot of time, it just makes the experience of thrifting or vintage shopping much more enjoyable. And I think the reason that is, is because you just don't have to worry about having to be somewhere or do something else. And there isn't as much pressure in the moment to find, find, find something. You can take your time. You can really comb through the items that are available and maybe stumble upon something that you would have never thought would be available. You find the needle in the haystack, so to speak. Also, the reason why I titled this video that I hit a goldmine is because I think that the shops that we went to, the experiences that we went to, they were full of items that maybe not necessarily for me, but letting you guys know about them, I just felt like they were great, great locations from the Grand Bazaar to Gentleman's Resale, Chickies Vintage, Grand Street Local, even some of the more ancillary shops that we visited that the one in Williamsburg that I didn't know anything about, it wasn't really my speed, but there were some really cool items there nonetheless. All right, let's clip on the mic and get into some of the more specific items that I was actually able to pick up. Can we still hear me? Are we still good? Lighting is changing a little bit, but I'll put some good b-roll over it. So we'll start kind of small and get bigger, okay? The first thing that I picked up was picked up because I ripped both of my laces on my Adidas Gazelles Sean Weatherspoons. I'm pretty sure that these laces are hemp laces. See if the camera can focus on that. Hemp laces. And when I was tying these shoes, they actually ripped off on my way or on our way to the Harper's Bazaar. And you can kind of see how like the laces are sort of fraying here at the top. I'll show you guys better if it doesn't show right there. And so what I did is I decided to at Gentleman's Resale pick up a pair of just red laces, funny enough. And they were about $10 and they were Gucci apparently. And I was like, you know what? Just for the sake of it, just for the heck of it, I needed a new pair of laces because my other ones just broke. You can't go wrong with adding a bit of a pop of color to a shoe. And I think red laces just look good. The fact that they're Gucci, does it add a little bit to it? Not really. Because at the end of the day, like laces are laces. What makes a difference between a Gucci pair of laces and just in any other pair of laces? So yeah, this is the first pickup of the hunt. Cool, huh? I think so. Okay, so next, also at Gentleman's Resale, probably one of my favorite places. I don't know if you guys saw me kind of trying this on, but this is a Polo Ralph Lauren, if I'm not mistaken. Yep. Polo Ralph Lauren button down in this kind of like almost gingham pattern. Yeah, definitely gingham, not almost. This is definitely gingham, size medium. And I got the incense going and it's a little bit too much. I'm gonna put it by the window. So this is the gingham, right? This is a nice little button down shirt. I've been wearing more and more button down shirts in my wardrobe. In fact, I have another Polo Ralph Lauren button down that I've been wearing religiously over the last, I would say, two to three months. This pattern is really fun. I think it'll play really, really well for the spring and the summer, especially for like under layering or just, I don't know, maybe even if I crop it or something like that, it could be pretty cool as well. But regardless, I thought this was a great, great pickup. Only about, I think it was $30 at Gentleman's Resale. So nothing too crazy expensive, but also like it looks to be in very, very good condition. There's no like armpit stains. There's no like browning or just nastiness that sometimes you get when you buy secondhand, which is always good to see. I'll probably still throw it in the wash, but yeah, pickup number two. I think that button downs are a part of my style evolution. They're a part of my maturation. And it's interesting to see that I'm actually beginning to wear more button downs because I never really thought about wearing them in the past. And the more I've gotten into Ivy and black Ivy, and I've always been into Japanese Americana. And the more I've gotten into menswear and even moving to New York City, I've noticed like my style is tweaked and progressed a little bit. And I think this is an example of that. Last but not least, we have a new pair of denim. These are from the brand formerly known as Repaired Rags, newly named Slow Boat. It's either Slow Boat New York City or just Slow Boat. This is a homie's brand or not really a homie, but someone who I have a lot of respect for. I consider a peer in some respects. And I picked these up because it was the brand's first rendition of Japanese denim. And let me make sure I get all the specs on these right. So I have a little spec card. I'll be sure to show you this. So this is their first cut wide 13 ounce yarn dyed cone mill special selvedge denim. It feels very, very good to the touch. Incredibly light 13 ounces. I don't know if I have, I think the sugar canes are 14 ounces, but it feels really, really good to the touch. I literally just discovered a little hidden back pocket feature, which I did not know existed. So in the back pocket right here, I don't know if you'll be able to see this. There's a little zipper right here that opens up as well. I'll try to show that better. I don't know. That's kind of a hard thing to show, but you can kind of see the zipper right there, right? Dark wash denim, basically black denim. I wanted to get a black pair of denim. I don't really have anything like that's black except for Somar's Ahab denim, which is really another beautiful pair. But I love the kind of just like graininess of the way that this looked from the lookbook imagery. I love the fact that it kind of has the back cinch and it also has overall buttons all throughout. So if you wanted to attach overalls to these jeans, you could as well. They're high-waisted, 100% selvage. I think that the fabric is from, the fabric is Japanese selvage if I'm not mistaken, but it's constructed in cone mills. If I'm wrong, I'm so sorry. Very, very well-produced pair of denim from what I'm seeing. Even the button details, like they have this very, kind of remind me of Orslo's buttons, the way that they are. And they just feel sturdy and it's really, really well done. Honestly, very, very cool pair of jeans. These are vintage, but I picked these up and I wanted to share them with you guys. And I don't know, I don't really do as much pickups anymore because I find pickups to be sometimes bottom of the barrel when it comes to effort. But when there's cool things like this that come in and obviously the point of this video is to show you some clothing that I picked up at the end of it, I'll sparkle in a little bit here or there. Let me know what you guys think of the video. Hopefully you enjoyed it. It was a video that I think went pretty well. I liked the process of making this video. It was my first time taking the big boy camera out into New York City and being that YouTuber and getting the stares and people asking me, what do you do? And it was a whole different energy on that level, but it was fun. I would love to hear any type of feedback. If you want more of these type of videos, let me know as well, because I think that these are pretty fun. We head to Japan next week, so I'll definitely be exploring Japan's vintage scene and thrift scene out there. Got some great recommendations from you guys. If you have any more recs for Japan, leave those down in the comment as well. What else? Anything else, Lauren? We still didn't get you any socks. I couldn't find any. If you have any cute sock recommendations, like summertime socks, leave them down in the comments. That you can wear with sandals. Leave them down in the comments. As always, I'm spreading peace, love, and positivity in 2024. So that means I'm spreading peace, love, and positivity to you and more wherever you are in the world. Have a wonderful rest of your day. Abiento, peace. Yo, what is good, Post Vivid? Here are the fist bumps for the one time. Here's another one for the two times. Thank you so much for staying to the end of the video. It means a ton to me. Let's get a little bit closer, PVV, because you know, we're family. Like it's been me and you for the last like, what has it been? Three years? Almost four years? Lauren's looking at me like I'm crazy right now. Lauren's just looking at me. Do you have something you want to say to the PVV? This is my point of view of Lauren right now. If you guys have any extra recommendations for Japan, leave them down in the comments. Hashtag PVV when you answer. So I know that you made it to the end of the video. Do we wait to get socks in Japan or do we get socks here in New York? And also, is New York City cooler than Tokyo? We're going to find out. Regardless, see you guys very soon. Hopefully, I'll get another video chopped up for you very, very soon. Thin, thin, fun, huh? Fun. You know, I actually have a question for you. I asked you the same question when we were looking for apartments or actually we had just been here for the first like month, first couple of weeks. What is the best part about New York City? And what is the worst part about New York City? For me, the best part is the fact that you can get around the city without having to have a car. You can use your own two feet. Public transit is just nice. It's just so nice to be able to do that. That's mine too. So yours too? Okay. I think that was mine last time too. I think it remains the same. Yeah, yeah. And then I agree.