What's the name of your store? Where is it?
Circa Now. It's located at 238 E. 6th Street between 2nd and Bowery, in the East Village in New York City.
What is the style of your store?
Well we try to keep everything trendy although it's vintage. Everything is in style right now. And it's our personal style. I wouldn't put something in the store it if I didn't like it, even if I knew it was going to sell.
How much do your clothes cost?
On average, about fifty bucks. I mean they're anywhere from $20 to $600. We're trying to supplement the stuff we can't find in vintage with some new stuff. Like we have these new t-shirts. And those are $50. But generally we have dresses and those are anywhere from $40 to $100.
We try not to stick with one decade. We have everything from Edwardian to the early '90s. On our price tags, since our name is Circa Now, it says "Circa" and we write in whatever decade it's from.
What did you do before you opened a vintage store?
I was working in design. I worked as a graphic designer for a clothing company. I was doing fashion design as well as graphic design, graphics to go on the shirts and that sort of thing.
Where did you go to school?
I studied fashion design at Parsons School of Design. But I never ended up graduating; I have one year left.
Why did you want to open a ... do you call it vintage or thrift store?
Vintage. Boutique. It's vintage for women who don't generally like vintage. Everything is cleaned; everything is pressed; everything is repaired.
I think I've been working up to opening a vintage store since birth. My family's pretty darn cheap, so my mom's been taking me to garage sales since I was little. And I remember the first thing I got; I remember my first big score was a Madame Alexander doll I got for a dollar. I think that day I also got a dollhouse for $3. It was metal, '50s ranch style. Now I keep my CDs in it.
Here I am with a pile of shoes.
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