The Garment District, Cambridge, located at 200 Broadway Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts is known for its flaming pink banner logo and the infamous, clarifying tagline, “It’s not a district! It’s a store!” which does, in fact explain it accurately, although taking into an account what a massive store it actually is, calling it a clothing district wouldn’t exactly be crossing the lines. If you like vintage and used clothing and accessories, Garment District Cambridge could be your newly discovered goldmine. With two huge floors of clothing, shoes and accessories, organized in what I suppose is the best way they possibly could be, the unique vintage inspired clothing and used thrift store, or warehouse if you will, has something for everyone that wants to add a little creativity to their wardrobe.
Garment District, Cambridge also meets the needs of those who are looking for the latest hipster, trendy items that might be easily associated with an indie rocker type gal or bowling shoe dude. Their prices are not exactly the best when it comes to the New England thrift shop and vintage inspired clothing industry, but I personally think the fact that the employees have to sort through thousands of pieces of clothing items and shoes on daily basis and try to weed out the crap as well as organize the good stuff (not to mention attempt to figure out if a given item should be labeled as mens or womens, as the two often overlap) should constitute for paying a little bit extra for their hard labor. You might just imagine what kind of smelly, dirty old clothing they have to sometimes sift through to get to the quality stuff. Mold, mothballs, mildew. Yuk.
Yes, The Garment District, Cambridge, priced like a mall department store like Burdines or Filenes, is really a great place to go to shop for used, vintage inspired clothing as long as you do not mind flipping though endless racks of clothes. Although that type of shopping should sort of be expected for anyone desiring to shop for used or bargain, outlet clothes, for this tends to be the structure of the miscellaneously grouped clothing filing system of these types of shops. If you are feeling especially adventurous and are feeling cheap, or if you are just feeling cheap, find yourself a place among the huge mounds of used and vintage inspired clothing pieces of sweaters, pants and randomly sewn together dress shirts on the first level and play the dollar a pound shopping spree game. The clothing pile is replenished on a daily basis so no matter how many times a week you stake out the place to hunt for your super inexpensive new wardrobe fashions, you are sure to find a proper variety. In the Dollar A Pound section of The Garment District, Cambridge, clothes, shoes, bags and belts are $1.50 a pound, the toys, household items and “bric-a-brac” or as it sounds, miscellaneous products are $1.00 a pound and the latest new addition to the downstairs store, the records, CD and video selections are for these types, 50 cents a pound. And then if that weren’t enough, all of these items in the Dollar a Pound playhouse are marked down to 75 cents a pound or less every Friday. This infamous Dollar A Pound tradition has been in operation since 1981, where this more or less clothing giveaway started the entire used clothing drive-type of setup, before expanding into a full blown store, known as The Official Garment District, Cambridge we know today, in 1986.
And ever since their opening in 1986, The Garment District Cambridge has been like a Boston/Cambridge legend and booming in business and building expansions until the present day. They now have expanded to the internet market and are selling even more hot merchandise items via their online website. New departments they cater to include Rock (Rock n Roll Tshirts), Clothing (Caberet style and lingere-esque type garments and accessories), Rock Accessories (Studded Belts, Hair Dyes, Custom Hats), party accessories (Wigs, Hats, Legwarmers, gogo outfits), and pop culture (South Park, Simpsons, Family Guy apparel). They also now run an online blog, “Garment District Blog”, have a profile on my space and have a link on their site that features a showcase of bands and their record labels that the store stands behind, both nationally and locally.
The Garment District Cambridge is a hip, modern, Boston monument like no other store in the area. Though there are indeed several thrift stores and vintage inspired clothing shops that attempt to follow in its footsteps, and all with their own personal unique quality and charm, nothing will ever match the likes of the infamous Garment District, Cambridge in Cambridge Mass. Not only have they been consistently nominated for Boston area awards several years in a row now from many different nominating hosts, but they continue to be featured in national magazines such as Elle, Seventeen and Lucky, brands that many would consider authorities on modern day fashions.
For a used and vintage inspired clothing store, especially one that began out of a small room with tons of old, cheap clothes they practically gave away early mornings to the masses, The Garment District Cambridge is most certainly holding its own and more. And even though many other small, privately operated used clothing and thrift stores seem to be popping up all over the Boston and especially Cambridge area, The Garment District, Cambridge, without having to even say a word, will most certainly successfully continue to hold their neon pink banner up high and quietly rise to each occasion.
The Garment District, Cambridge is located at 200 Broadway Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a short walk from the Kendal MIT redline T stop. Hours of operation for The Garment District Cambridge are: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday- 11am to 7pm; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- 11am to 8pm and Saturday-9am to 7pm. Hours of Operation for A Dollar A Pound are: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday-11am to 7pm; Wednesday and Thursday-11am to 8pm; Friday-11am to 7pm; and Saturday-9am to 7pm. Phone Number is 617-876-5230.
Reference:
- www.garmentdistrict.com– The Garment District, Cambridge Official Website.
