This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
When the Atomic Rhythm All-Stars went on their first mini-tour this past weekend to Greenville, SC and Charlotte, NC, I knew we’d have a few hours to kill in Charlotte before the Saturday night dance, but wasn’t sure what exactly that would entail when traveling with five guys. Fortunately, our esteemed band leader, George Knott, is a vintage hunter and gatherer of things, including old musical instruments, which leads him to some interesting destinations like the Sleepy Poet Antique Mall in Charlotte, NC. He’s driving the bus, so who’s to argue?
I’ll admit, I had low expectations of finding any worthwhile clothing at Kitsch-y-Cool Vintage, as antique mall clothing tends to lean more toward undesirable leftovers from someone’s closet thrown in with their antique furniture and knick-knacks. To my surprise, in the center of this antique mall, an entire store was set up, with racks upon racks of real vintage shoes, clothing, jewelry, and accessories. The area was even decorated well! There was definitely a lot of 60’s and 70’s clothing, but there was enough 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s clothing that I would recommend stopping by if you are in the area. That said, the 60’s clothing was really good and I was tempted to leave with a pair of mod silver heels.
The prices are fantastic, between $30 and $70 for dresses in excellent condition ($70 for the “designer” 1940’s dress I saw), but the real steal were the men’s accessories – $2 for really awesome tie clips, loads of cufflinks, belt buckles, and our saxophone player, Peter Lamb, left with a really shiny pair of sunglasses and a pipe. I was in heaven because the clothing was organized by size and each item had a tag describing the item and the decade. I do love an organized vintage store!
I picked up two adorable 1940’s dresses, one of them dead stock with the original tags still on. The label says “Lindner-Davis.” A quick Google search shows that this was a department store in Cleveland – funny that I’m picking up Cleveland vintage in my home state when I was just there last week…anyway, the price tag says $12.85, marked down from $22.95. How much would this dress cost today? Lindner & Davis merged with another store in 1950, so calculating from 1949, according to an inflation calculator, this dress would be like buying a $210 dress on sale for $118, only I really paid around $30 in today’s dollars for the dress. How’s that for bargain hunting? 😉
Here are pictures of the space and some vintage finds:
Lindy Shopper 
Are there any different types of Cheap Tie Clips available?? and which is the Cheap Tie Clips best type??