With the arrival of ‘Best Vintage’, the newest edition to Oldham Street, has the vintage revolution gone too far? With Junk, Ryan’s Vintage and Pop all occupying the area, should the Northern Quarter be re-named the ‘Vintage’ quarter?

According to Patrick, Manager of Blue Rinse on Tib Street it seems there are indeed “too many vintage shops in the area. We wanted to open a store in Fallowfield however business would be too quiet over the summer.” So is this why shop owners are attracted to the Northern Quarter, despite the growing popularity of vintage shopping we are still a long way from seeing a cosy vintage shop sat beside H n M on the high street.  Will thrifty threads be able to survive anywhere else in the city?

Blue rinse on Tibb Street, still in its infancy, had already established itself on the vintage market with its Leeds store. However it appears ‘Best vintage’ wasn’t too far behind even then, opening a store across the road from them. Yet being situated in such a prime location in the Northern Quarter, we asked Patrick whether he felt Best Vintage, their competitor had the edge. “I think being off the beaten track is good for us as we have a lot of customers who are intrigued when they stumble across our store.” And unlike some of the vintage shops in the area Patrick feels that their spacious layout attracts “a different type of customer.” 

However Kathryn Young from Best vintage believes their newly opened store is reaping the benefits from being situated in such a prime location, “When we opened we were surprised by how busy we where. We have introduced 10% student discount in our store as well as having competitive prices.”

With the rising numbers of vintage shops we may soon find existing businesses following suit, employing similar sales promotions in order to attract new customers and maintain existing ones. So this begs the question; are well established vintage shops in the Northern Quarter going to suffer from having too many rival businesses in such close proximity? Some businesses may find their loyal customers are looking elsewhere for value during these grim economic times.

Like so many retail trends, will vintage lose its cool appeal as it reaches the masses?

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