The Thrifty Prep: February 2013

With the Winter break over, I've been back in school and quite busy (hence the lack of updates). Fortunately however, being only 1.5 hours away from NYC by train, I've had the chance to take a couple trips into the city for exploration, and the pursuit of thrifting!

I will be creating a "Thrift Store Reviews" page give a rundown on the locations I visited in to give you all an idea of what to look for when you are in the area.

Trip 1: The Flagship

346 Madison Avenue. The Cornerstone of American Style.

Staying nearby Madison avenue, I knew one of my must-see destinations would be the Brooks flagship store. This massive 6 story complex is the epicenter of the Brooks Brothers brand, and was complete with elaborate decoration and displays.

The first floor was home to the dress shirts and ties (all priced abhorrently of course), but the selection was incredible. The third floor was focused on sport shirts, polos, and more casual wear, including sweaters and outerwear. Also here one can find the "St. Andrews Links Golf Simulator" for those who like taking swings at virtual balls..

The entire store emitted a fair bit of arrogance that I'd never experienced at their outlet stores or smaller locations. No sales person seemed to be under the age of 55 and one woman told me she had been working there for 30 continuous years. There were a couple friendly staff among the mix however, and they offered to hold my bags as I shopped (and snapped some photos).

Prepsplosion. If there is somewhere where you draw the line, this is pretty close.

Mini BB#1 Repp ties in pastel colors, ribbon belts, Polo shirts with the (stupid) 1818 logo, and a rip-off of the "Official Preppy Handbook" originally published in 1980

All the surcingle a man could ever ask for

Triple the headsails, triple the fun

While the majority of the store was well out of my thrift friendly price range... I did make a purchase here. As it was towards the end of the season, many items were 60% off, and I was able to score a $70 Pima cotton sweater for $27.99.

The Allen Edmonds store, fittingly, is across the street.

Lunch in the city Veselka, the best Ukrainian cuisine around apparently! Shown here wearing a gingham BD with oxford cloth collar pullover.

Read the reviews of the thrift stores here:

NYC Thrift Stores

Trip 2

Brooks Brothers Flatiron Shop

I was in NYC yet again, this time for a concert at Carnegie Hall. The next morning I had some time to kill before the train, so in the rain, I took a quick walk over to the flatiron shop on 901 Broadway.

The Flatiron shop is designed to be the more youthful, "concept" version of Brooks Brothers, geared towards a collegiate (and possibly younger) audience. The store is arranged almost like the library of a old university, with shirts and ties tucked among old volumes on large shelves, to me, creating a chilling reminder of the library scene in The Great Gatsby (although I didn't check to see if the pages were cut!). In addition to the books, the scene was completed by ivy-ish bits of memorabilia, from card catalog drawers a pair of old rowing oars, and even a Foosball table.

The store has 3 floors, with the bottom two dedicated to men's clothing. Many of the polo shirts featured the more unfortunate "1818" logo on the front, which I feel is an unnecessary addition to the simple golden fleece. The staff here were all younger, and friendlier than those at the Madison ave. location. There wasn't much on sale, except for some pants in odd styles, and some nice wool sweaters that I couldn't justify purchasing myself. Unfortunately my camera batteries died while I was in the store, so you'll have to rely on the images here, or check out the write-up of another Flatiron location on CollegeTrad.

Several brands have given the "preppy college youth" demographic a shot, Rugby Ralph Lauren (now closing), Land's End Canvas, L.L. Bean Signature, J.Crew Ludlow, and now (to the horror of some), J.Press York Street.

While Flatiron isn't a separate line of clothing, they do tend to take the more trendy items and leave behind the more refined. You'll even see some of the dreaded Brooks Brothers "t-shirts' here, but at least they did offer a nice variety of fairly quality items and cool storefront.