This vintage Los Angeles shopping card is designed to empower small business owners – WWD

A new app called “LA Vintage Map” aims to bring shoppers to the local vintage scene in Los Angeles, and for vintage stores, that means new business.

Launched last week with a list of 220 companies, the map is available on the iOS store as well as on the dedicated website LaVintageMap.com. Shoppers can browse listings by area, category, or name, view hours, and contact information in the directory.

Although the pandemic was a death knell for several vintage LA stores, new ones have sprung up and famous flea markets like The Rose Bowl Flea, Los Feliz Flea, and Silverlake Flea have grown significantly (even practically adapted in the midst of the pandemic).

Given the changing rationale and new resale reality, LA Vintage Map founder Liisa Jokinen, who is also behind NYC Vintage Map and the vintage Gem search engine, has a relatively simple mission.

“The map is helping more people find vintage, thrift, and flea markets in Los Angeles. It helps people discover new stores that they haven’t visited and also encourages them to explore new neighborhoods, ”Jokinen told WWD. “After looking at our cards, a lot of people comment, ‘I had no idea there were so many stores in LA and New York City.'” She hopes the card will attract a surplus of visitors, buyers, and followers featured shops.

Companies like Archive Atelier, Chelsea Von Mach, Ciao Cherub, Wilder, Western Gifts, ReDress and The Gorky LA are popular in the vintage scene

Everyone has their niche, Jokinen said, with Western Gifts, for example, selling rare workwear from across Europe and the United States, while ReDress is, in her words, the “first rental-the-rack store for retailers.”

Wilder specializes in archive denim, Archive Atelier is like a little antique atelier, Chelsea Von Mach is the editorial brainchild of a former stylist, The Gorky LA is for the artistic minimalist, and Ciao Cherub appeals to Instagram-inspired fashion fans (but go for it Vintage).

The Gorky LA is one of the stores listed on the LA Vintage Map.
Courtesy The Gorky LA

Many of the spots were handpicked by flavor makers like Ari Seth Cohen, founder of Advanced Style (a blog devoted to senior fashion style) and LA-based stylist Sissy Chacon. Both wrote blurbs with devotion to their favorite stores.

Jokinen said the reactions to the card have been positive, with owners especially proud of the free placement. LA Vintage Map is believed to work similarly to Gem’s business model which is based on affiliate marketing programs. Today Gem has around 460,000 monthly users for its search functions.

Just three years ago, the local search for second-hand shops was increasing. Given the upward trend in resale, will the LA Vintage Map catch on?

“Interest in the vintage and thrift market is growing so a card like this is definitely needed,” said Jokinen. “I don’t know of any other similar apps in the world, so both LA and NYC Vintage Maps are unique in this regard. We like to promote stationary shops, small shops and flea markets because they make cities interesting and lively. “

Vintage shops are of course only a small part of the retail landscape. At the beginning of 2022, many fear that the recovery of the industry as a whole is still a long way off.

“Brick and mortar retail will continue to recover in 2022,” Ben Johnston, chief operating officer at Kapitus, a small business loan financer, told WWD. Foreign-sourced companies will see persistent friction points, he said. “At Kapitus, we expect 2022 to bring a welcome sense of normalization as the virus dissolves, inflation eases and some supply constraints ease. However, many uncertainties remain for America’s small businesses in the retail sector, and we have no doubt that the coming year will prove to be more eventful and potentially more opportunistic than the recent past. “

For more information, see:

Thrift Shop Near Me searches are increasing in the US and abroad

Start-ups: order clothes to the office, search engine only for vintage

Rose Bowl Flea Market goes online through Free People