Exploring the Neighborhood: Flower Child

So when we moved from Tremont to the almost-Lakewood area, I was concerned about the lack of boutiques within walking distance of our new home. I shouldn't have been concerned. Last week, I stopped by Flower Child, a supercute vintage store on Clifton Blvd and W 115th. While I'm a big fan of vintage, I usually don't like vintage stores: they tend to be dusty, and they make me feel like I'm covered in dust and need to go home and shower right away. Flower Child isn't like that, although there is a LOT of stuff, that can be overwhelming if you're the type of person that gets overwhelmed by too many choices. When I say "a lot", I mean A LOT! Seriously, it doesn't look very large from the street-level, but there's a whole basement that has probably 10 rooms filled with all kinds of stuff. I couldn't figure out how its sorted, but in all honesty, I was so amazed by the ridiculous variety of stuff that I wasn't paying attention to how it was organized.

Things of note:
Insane jewelry collection
Lots of furniture and kitchen collectibles
Large record collection (its in two spots; on the wall and also in one large corner of the basement)
Vintage purses and shoes

There is quite a bit of men's and women's clothing, but its important to remember that this is a vintage store, not a thrift store, so the prices are vintage-y not thrift-y. That said, I thought prices in general were pretty reasonable.

While I was there, I picked up a gift for Hartzell, who celebrated his 30th birthday this week. I think Hartzell is single-handedly trying to bring back the 80s, so I got him the Extended Club Mix of "We Built This City" by Starship.

Very dark and slightly grainy picture of the birthday boy with his record. Sorry, the iPhone doesn't have flash.

So if you're in the Lakewood  area, and are looking to kill a few hours, you should definitely consider exploring Flower Child. You never know what gems you might find!