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by Liza Weisstuch |
September 08, 2008
40 South
We’re always on the hunt for that which seems unfindable — or just plain unlikely: brooches, hats, and handbags from the 1940s, drink trays from the 1950s, sunglasses from the ’60s, thighhigh white boots from the ’70s, and anything fluorescent from the 1980s. We trawl the cluttered Internet aplenty, but sometimes we want to touch and try, too. The question is, where do we go?
Answer: lots of places. The city is well-colonized with little retail joints that specialize in all things quirky, curious, retro, or repurposed. You just have to look a little harder to find them. Until now. As you already know, small business owners are defined by their get-up-and-go energy, uncompromising creativity, and obsessions bordering on the clinical (in a good way). Turns out that collectively they comprise a network that’s something of a looser version of the Skull & Bones society, a casual confederation of members who talk one another up and help one another out. And now this crew appears to have a skipper. Brooks Morris, who owns Buckaroo’s Mercantile (5 Brookline Street, Cambridge, 617.492.4792), a mecca of retro curios, has published The Eclectic Shopper’s Guide, a nifty pamphlet with a lowkey, attitude-free, DIY look to help the intrepid consumer navigate the side streets and retail carnivals of Boston and beyond. ...
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