Toni's Vintage Trips: Vintage in Williamsburg Brooklyn NYC

I'm in New York and searching for vintage and consignment stores to photograph and find interesting clothes and items to buy and to sell when I get home. I am here with my best soul sister, Kat. Today, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, which was over a mile. It was also raining. Once on the other side, we took a cab to Williamsburg, which is the Haight Street of Brooklyn. We were in search of vintage and consignment stores. Our first stop was Beacon's Closet (88 N. 11 St., Williamsburg, NY). It was huge and had so much of everything that interests me, such as platform shoes, dresses, jackets and purses. The prices were very reasonable. I saw very few items over $50 and many under $20. I bought a gorgeous Nicole Miller evening dress for $59. It was brand new and had a sales tag attached that read $485. You can imagine how happy I was to score that dress.

Our next stop was Monk (496 Driggs Ave., Williamsburg, NY, monkvintage@aol.com,718-384-6665), which is a smaller store with vintage and consignment packed in everywhere. Multi-colored 1950's nylon petticoats decorate the walls along with hats, purses, etc. The prices at this store are higher, such as $95 for a small brown Coach backpack purse, but considering the high rent that they are probably paying, I can understand entirely. But because the prices were high here, I didn't buy anything.

Our last stop was Buffalo Exchange (504 Driggs Ave., Williamsburg, NY, BuffaloExchange.com, 718-384-6901), a favorite store of mine that I shop at regularly in Berkeley. This store did not disappoint me. There were beautiful shoes and purses at slightly higher prices, but mostly designer or couture. I bought a vintage pair of 1960's bell bottom pants by one of my favorite designers, Lilly Pulitzer, for only $19.50. We ended our shopping trip at a local restaurant, Trix, for a glass of wine and some delicious snacks. Tomorrow we will be exploring consignment shops on the Upper East Side. Stay tuned.