Where to Shop for Vintage Clothing in Southwestern Michigan

With a year-round calendar of costume parties and historical celebrations, residents in southwestern Michigan make shopping for vintage clothing - at its coolest, most imaginative, wackiest and most colorful - a favorite past-time. Catering to this unusual pleasure are a number of retailers who do their part in dressing up the area's many parties, proms, galas and balls.

Everybody's Everything

At Everybody's Everything, a popular vintage clothing and costume store in St. Joseph, the motto is "Let your imagination run wild!" Be the perfect pirate or princess. Impeccably imitate Abe Lincoln or Scarlett O'Hara. Vamp with the best as Mae West or Marie Antoinette.

Owner Sandra Braddock crams the place with ...well, everybody's everything. Fabulous dresses and suits for every age and of every era hang on racks, walls and dressing room doors. Accessories adorn every spare inch of wall space. Stunning jewelry, magnificent hats, gloves, glorious boas, along with a seemingly endless assortment of wigs, beards, mustaches, eyelashes, shoes, leg-wear, belts, and whatever else your mind can conjure.

A member of the National Costumers Association, Everybody's Everything is open year-round and located at 1523 Niles Avenue, St. Joseph, Michigan 49085. Visit the shop and take a slide show tour through its offerings at www.goswm.com/go_htm/southwest_michigan_guide/michigan_shopping/everybodyseverything/index.htm.

Antique Row

Extreme southern Berrien County, Michigan hosts the region's popular "Antique Row," with four major multi-booth antique malls and no fewer than 15 smaller antique and vintage collectibles shops within a 10-mile radius.

Here's you'll find authentic period clothing (and often, the trunks the clothes were discovered in!), hats for men and women, fringed shawls and silk-lined capes, bloomers, camisoles, watch fobs, shoes, wonderful hand-beaded purses, antique jewelry and all the accessories. The four main retail sites are:

Michiana Antique Mall is at 2423 South 11th Street in Niles, Michigan 49120. Call John toll Free 1-800-559-4694 or phone 269-684-7001. Michiana Antique Mall is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and only closed on New Years Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Vintage clothing is available in several of the dealers' booths, and many booths offer vintage hats, shoes, jewelry and accessories,

Four Flags Antique Mall offers 80 shops on two floors, housed in a 1930s-era Montgomery Ward's store at 218 Second St. in Niles, Michigan 49120. Some dealers specialize in authentic vintage clothing and accessories. Summer hours (May through October) are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m. Winter hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.

Main Street Antique Mall also offers some vintage clothing. It's is located in the old, historic McLellan Dime Store building, built in the 1880's at 109 East Main Street in Niles. Winter hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.
Summer hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m. Call 269-684-9393 for inventory information.

Another source for vintage clothing and lots of accessories is Pickers Paradise, a multi-booth mall near the Indiana border, at 2809 South 11th St. in Niles, Michigan 49120. Pickers is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 269-683-6644 for information.

More information about retailers of vintage clothing in southwestern Michigan is available through the Four Flags Area Council on Tourism at www.fourflagsarea.org.

Theater Groups

Vintage clothing is also available several times a year when local theater groups clear out inventory to make way for new costumes. Southwestern Michigan sports an active amateur theater industry, so there is usually quite an extensive assortment of costumes and period clothing to go around! Call for their sale dates and inventory.

Twin City Players in St. Joseph; 269-429-0400, or visit www.twincityplayers.org.

Beckwith Theater in Dowagiac; 100 New York Ave., P.O. Box 882, Dowagiac 49047, or phone 269-782-ROLE. Visit http://www.beckwiththeatre.org.

Tin Shop Theater in Buchanan; Days Ave. and Roe St., P.O. Box 515
Buchanan 49107, or phone 269-695-6464. Visit http://www.tinshoptheatre.org.

Acorn Theater in Three Oaks; 107 Generations Drive, Three Oaks 49128, or phone
269-756-3879. Visit http://www.acorntheater.com.