Saturday, August 31, 2013

Secondhand / Vintage / Thrift Stores in Cologne-an Assessment

Hi guys :D I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I just returned home from a day of intense exploring and researching. And that only for you! ;)
So if you know me, you'll know that I'm a lover of thrift, vintage and secondhand shopping. Everytime I visit a city, I first have to to extended research to find out, where the best cool & original shops are because nothing is more boring than beeing in a cool foreign city and shopping in the exact same shops you can find in your hometown. Because I'm so nice-I will pass on this info to you, so if you ever go thrift shopping in Cologne-you'll know exactly where to go :D We gave each shop a score out of 5 stars so that it is easy for you to see what we thought!
Well then-let's get started!

Our first stop led us to Miss Meany. Just as it says on the website-the ideal place to find  amazing 50s, 60s or Rockabilly dresses in all shapes and sizes. A side from there are a few shoes, a few cardigans, some children's clothes but otherwise mainly dresses. The prices are quite high for a thrift store, but the dresses are in great shape and a good quality. Spacy changing rooms, good music and adorable shop assistants provide a very good atmosphere. If you don't want a mainstream prom dress-this is the place to go! :D
Conclusion - ****

Then we went to Entlarvt (You can click the link if you want the address, but otherwise their homepage is very unhelpful!). The atmosphere here was quite good, it had a really thrift/vintage store kind of feel with lots of stuff everywhere but you could still breathe which was nice. There were many fancy and a little eccentric pieces but not much that one, even with an "original" style, would wear. The shop assissant was also a little odd but knew his store very well. The prices were more on the higher side but you could find tons of cool leather bags, shoes, jewelery and other kinds of knick knack...
In conclusion- ***


Next stop was the Flohmarkthalle Köln which was a little different from the other stores. There were no clothes here but lots of old books you could browse, DVDs, CDs, Records, bone china, furniture mixed with new things. A treasure trove for anyone who likes rummaging through secondhand goods. There was a good atmosphere in store which was surprisingly clean and tidy, the shop assisants were very helpful, nice and seemed to have a good idea what they are doing. Very cool store! :D
In conclusion-*****


Then we have Subcouture. This store was definetely a disappointment-on the internet it was announced as the best second hand store in the whole of Cologne but this was definetely not true. Granted, it was pretty big and you could find a lot of things but the atmosphere in the shop was very unpleasant. A very strange shop assisstant, the shop looked more like a warehouse than a store, the changing rooms were dirty, dark and there was not a real curtain and on top of that the prices were unproportionally high!
In conclusion-**


Vintage & Rags was our last stop and we award it the title of best Secondhand/Vintage Store in Cologne-if you are looking for clothes. There was an enormous variety of clothing displayed, lots of cool pieces at reasonable prives. The atmosphere was good too-it is a very nicely decorated store, good music was playing.The only negative things were that the shop assissants were there to take your money only, they stood behind the counter and didn't help at all. Additionally the changing rooms were very cute in their design but sadly highly impractical because they were very open!
In conclusion-*****


A big thanks to both my fellow thrift shoppers! :D It was an awesome day with you guys!
If you know of any  more cool thrift stores in Cologne or in other city's that I must visit and add to this list-then tell me in the comments! :D
xoxo Alex
 

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