Pre-loved clothing store, Aunty Vintage is celebrating quirky individuality with unique items
A preloved clothing store in Townsville’s CBD is celebrating all things quirky after the owner wanted to replicate stores in Australia’s capital cities. Find out why people are obsessed.
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Nestled into its own little corner of the city is a vintage clothing oasis, where authenticity and individuality is celebrated through style, and a little bit of humour.
The founder of the store, Nic Lincoln, sat on her dream of opening a retro store for decades after a lifelong obsession with funky fashion.
“When I was 13 or 14, my aunty, she used to dress like Stevie Nicks, and she would always be buying second-hand op shop stuff, and so she used to take me out op-shopping,” Mrs Lincoln said.
“I just loved the dress-up side of it. I love that you can find something that is a little bit quirky that no one else is weaning and just kind of make your own style out of it.”
Two years after opening, and one move to a bigger space, the eclectic shop has gained a cult-like following of customers.
At the core of what Mrs Lincoln strives to achieve is a sustainable store that does not contribute to over-consumption of clothes and provides a new life for items that have otherwise been forgotten.
Although she has found the store also provides an outlet for customers to express themselves in a way that they may have struggled to do previously in Townsville.
“I’ve lived in Townsville for 18 years, and we’ve never had a vintage store and I knew this is what I wanted to make because this is what I always seek out when I go travelling but I didn’t know if Townsville was ready for it,’ Mrs Lincoln said.
“My vision is very streetwear but also a little bit elevated, but then there’s also some crazy stuff that could go a little over the top.”
“It’s been embraced … it gets really competitive with friends being like ‘I’ve got to get their first.’”
Among the racks of clothes are vintage, retro or modern thrifted items brought in from around the country or internationally, alongside accessories, stickers and decor items.
“I have a little bit of everything, I’m a bit of a bowerbird,” Mrs Lincoln said.
“The accessories were sort of a natural progression with sunglasses and earrings and things like that.”
Located near the Pedlar Project cafe and the Townsville Records shop, Mrs Lincoln said she was glad her shop could breathe a bit more life into the CBD alongside the others.
“To be honest, 90 per cent of the reason why I opened the shop in the city was because I knew that we don’t have many quirky shops in here,” she said.
Aunty Vintage is open Wednesday through to Sunday.
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Originally published as Pre-loved clothing store, Aunty Vintage is celebrating quirky individuality with unique items
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