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Avant Garden
Tips for Avant Garden
Great shop, odd hours.. With a wide selection of stylish vintage and retro clothing, plus various other unique knicknacks this is a very fun shop. Their slogan Bitchin' Kitsch and Counter Couture definitely applies. I found an over the top, 70's tuxedo with white pants and a crazy patterned light blue and white jacket with frilly fronted shirt that is totally pimp. There's also an interesting selection of crazy Thai movie posters, some being particularly gruesome and cool Cultural Revolution Mao memorabilia (posters, clocks, pins). Jason and Andrea are both very knowledgeable and helpful. Being in a shopping deadzone (look on the map for SE Portland in the last Willamette Week finder to see what I mean), they open later in the day (rarely are they open before noon) and often stay open late into the night (sometimes past midnight on the weekends) to match the influx of the restaraunt and bar crowd. They live upstairs, so if the shop is open but locked, a phone call to the number on the door will send them down. Due to the irregularity of their business hours, I strongly recommend calling in advance if you specifically want to shop there, or try to get the number from the door (which is their cell, not the number listed here) and schedule an appointment. Sort of a pain, but I found the treasures within well worth the effort.
Are they still open?. New to Portland and have been there twice. Neither time they were open. There was even a sign on the door back in 5 min the second time, but we waited about a half hour and no one showed up. Through the window it looks to be mainly a vintage clothes shop and not a general thrift shop.
Great clothing vintage, 30's - 70's. Good antiques. Helpful service & services.. I went shopping here one day looking for a b-day gift for a + sized relative, and found this shop to have a variety of vintage clothing in many sizes. I found a wonderful dress - the perfect gift, and a pair of pants for myself.
Avant Garden is NEVER OPEN. Avant Garden sure does LOOK as though it may be COOL, but the place is NEVER ever open. No regular business hours. I've been in the thrift shop a few times. I was greeted by an angry pug dog, was told that they were closed, the really great items were not for sale or not priced, yet. The sales girl seemed uninterested. She was very nice, once engaged in conversation. Whomever the owner or owners are, they do not NEED the income. Too bad, waste of a great retail space. The great stuff in the windows is faded and inaccessible to those of us that would LOVE to shop there!
Great store! Love it!. They had so many cool items at very reasonable prices. Andrea, the owner, was very helpful and very considerate and helped me find the exact item I was looking for. I would definately recommend this store to anyone. They have great stuff! Only wish they had a website.
Avant Garden
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