Sweet Charity

For the vintage and retro shopper in Edinburgh there are a plethora of well established, wonderful stores to visit, often with a veritable bounty of inspirational finds. But one phenomenon thwarts many an ambitious purchaser.

Vintage block is best described as that sense of defeat you feel when presented with too many items to sift through, and the conspicuous absence of the exact item you want. You have an aim when you set out, you search high and low, trawling through rail upon rail of items, desperate for that particular piece; that succulent morsel of an item hidden between or under everything else. And yet, despite your most concerted efforts, you fail. The result is a bad day’s shopping, the depression sets in and you feel like you’ve just been wasting your time. But fear not, there is a solution.

On the end of Cowgate as it emerges onto Grassmarket is the Barnardo’s vintage store. Although far smaller than the renowned Armstrong’s opposite, time and again it has proven worth the visit. It is to date the first vintage charity store to open in Edinburgh, and despite being a charity shop—and thus being subject to the hit and miss nature of donations—the collection is far above the usual standard. Sporting an eclectic selection of items from various periods of fashion—Harem pants from the ‘70s, beautiful three-piece suits and jive skirts from the ‘50s—it also manages to undercut the prices of most vintage stores by a considerable margin. The size adds to the solution: a small, refined and elegant selection helps the shopper immensely. The experience is different – rather than three miles of jeans for one pair you like, it’s five minutes of browsing before you find something you love.