Shopping Brooklyn

Saturday we planned on doing the Brooklyn shop.  Jessica and Emily got on Jargol, a great site for where to shop in a variety of cities.  You can view each city, comments and tags, etc.  Then they used Google Maps to point us in the right direction.  Damn, what did we do before the Internet?

We hit Dumbo and Williamsburg.  We didn’t get a chance to finish because I had to get back but it was fun and a worthwhile trip.

Dumbo is small.  Only a few blocks worth checking out.  The key store there is Zoe.  Large windowed industrial space.  Very wide range of designers from James Perse to Mint to Chloe to Matthew Williamson.  So prices are all over the place.  You can dress down or dress up, age depending.  They do a really good job of aggregating all the latest designers.  They other store we went into was Loopy Mango.  A mixture of designers I had never seen but interesting none the less.  They also have some vintage pieces including accessories.   Dumbo as a whole is just blossoming.  The potential is certainly there.  What I mean by that is for instance, there is a grocery store there, Dean and & Deluca like, but there isn’t enough inventory or choices.  But, the potential is there.  As more people move into the area and the blocks expand down to the river, more choices will become available.  Williamsburg, is a whole other ballgame.

We drove into Williamsburg which on a Saturday is a trip in itself.  You first drive through one of the major Hasidim areas in Brooklyn which is located in Williamsburg.  Saturday is Sabbath.  Everyone was out, it was a beautiful day, dressed in the appropriate attire head to toe.  We felt like we were in a completely different country.  It was pretty cool.  Just as we were 10 blocks in, the entire neighborhood changes once you cross over Metropolitan Avenue.  The street is packed.  The vibe is a cross between Park Slope and the East Village.  Some stores are a bohemian, lots of vintage, many cafes, a fantastic alternative music store and then the local needs like dry cleaning, deli etc.  It was fun. 

Here are the stores we got to:

Amarcord – Not for us.  Sort of 60’s meets the 90’s. 
Mini Minimarket – Mixture of funky 80’s clothes
Ear Wax – great Alternative only music store
Otte – They also have on in the West Village. Mixture of young designers, nothing above $300.
Jumelle – hands down our favorite store.  Great mix of designers from casual to a dressy.  Loved the owner.
Beacon’s Closet – Vintage Heaven.  You could spend a whole day there.
Built By Wendy – lots of private label.  Cute stuff.  Scales for the under 25 crowd. 

Will definitely return.  We all loved Jumelle.  One of those stores I’d stop by at least once a week if they were in my hood.  BTW, the picture of Jumelle is from the new site from the group at Curbed/Eater etc., called Racked where you can find out about the latest and greatest stores in NYC on a daily basis.