Open For Business: Find Decades-Old Vintage Clothing At Malena's Vintage Boutique In West Chester
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- Are you a big fan of old-school items, like retro clothing and accessories? In this week's Open for Business segment, Vittoria Woodill heads to West Chester to visit Malena's Vintage Boutique -- and once you take a step inside, it's like a trip back in time.
In downtown West Chester, there's a darling shop that's dedicated to the groovy, the girly and the glitzy items people pass on so you can treasure them for even more years to come.
"We get people who are 16 years old who are going to prom looking to be a little different, people in 40s and 50s that want to find a nostalgic piece, people in 60s have collected certain jewelry for the last 30 years. So it is fun for us too, to get all different age groups coming in," owner Malena Martinez said.
At Malena's Vintage Boutique, consider this a color-coded clothing and accessories collection of the times you once loved or would have loved, to live in.
Malena's specializes in stuff from the 1880s through 1980s.
While there are plenty of designer labels, there is an array of assortment ranging from top dollar to just a few dollars.
Martinez opened her shop 18 years ago, but her vintage collection started when she was a young girl.
"I started collecting when I was 12-13 years old. I just loved the romance of vintage," Martinez said.
"The most incredible thing I've ever found is a Fortuny pleated dress that there's a finite number in the world, no one knows how he created that pleating system," Martinez said.
She says she found the dress at an auction on a "wire hanger, basically in a garage."
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW.
