How to keep vintage shopping fresh with Quiggins finest

Walking through Quiggins leaves you inspired by the street-styled shoppers. It is packed to the brim with all things vintage, unusual and wacky.

There are hidden treasures situated over four floors of the building. This is what Saturday afternoons were made for, all that rummaging.

It is the alternative shopping centre for the more individual customer. Going for more than 20 years, Quiggins was originally based on School Lane before being pushed out by Liverpool One in 2006.

Over 100,000 people signed a petition to keep it in its home-sweet-home, but many of the original tenants are now well settled in Grand Central on Renshaw Street along with new ventures.

Quiggins now has a new lease of life and shops too. Similar to Afflecks Palace in Manchester, trawling through Grand Central you’re greeted with a blinding array of colours and shapes.

Packed with independent retailers, its great to see there are still some remaining little gems other than that of normal high-street big named retailers in this city.

Purple Revolver spoke to a few of the Quiggins store owners to really get a feel for the place and see how their vintage shops work.

We picked our favourites and spoke to the lovely ladies of Preserved and Total Recall, who definitely know what they’re talking about when it comes to all things vintage.

They ran us through what gives them the special edge to stand out from the other retro units in Quiggins.

Lucy and Emily from Preserved have taken off with a bang. It’s an eye-catching, little shop that certainly has its own style and glamour.

There is an impressive display of razzle dazzling jewellery upon entering the shop.

The girls from Preserved have been embarking on adventures far and wide selling their vintage threads across Britain in their Hunter wellies during the best season of the year, festival season.

Setting up their stall at Beach Break Live and Radio 1’s Big Weekend. They have big plans for V Fest and Kendal Calling in the next few months too.

They have a keen eye for thrifting. Since their university days they have built up a great collection by scouring charity shops nationwide.

Lucy said vintage is essential to her own fashion style: “I like to mix vintage with high street. I have a lot of pieces in my wardrobe to just stand out a bit.

“You wont see anyone else wearing it.”

Being young themselves, they appreciate low prices and their shop prices reflects this.

Lucy and Emily are always trying to give us lucky customers the best bargains claiming: “We know people want to see affordable things. We would want cheap clothes so other people will too.”

Total Recall was taken over by Kirsty in November and for the past eight months she has been replenishing the shop with her own personal bohemian touch.

She is also one of the limited places that has clothing for guys. Kirsty knows what’s on the fashion front line, giving the shop a certain style.

When asking her how she keeps her shop hot on its toes, she laughingly told us that its all in the stock she puts out: “There is a rather strange range of customers coming in so I always try and make sure I have something for everyone.”

The 1950s baseball jackets are mightily impressive. She comments that her favourite thing about owning a vintage shop is: “Being able to play dress up everyday!”

We urge you to support the independent stores at Quiggins that give our city that little twinkle.

Preserved:
www.preservedvintageclothing.com
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/39y4hjd

Photographer:
Edward lake