Recently I made a trip to San Diego (for comic con, post about it to come) and LA with 2 of my best friends. Of course being girls, we decided to do some shopping while in LA, so we went to
The Cobra Shop, Glitter Death, the Pygmy Hippo Shoppe, and also the
Buffalo Exchange in Santa Monica. I had high expectations for most of these shops, some of them exceeded and some of them failed miserably.
The Cobra Shop:
Located at
1441 n HIGHLAND, Los Angeles CA 90028
Website:
Here
I had heard about this store through celebrities such as model Audrey Kitching and knew I wanted to visit it when I was in the area. We drove 30 minutes to find a dirty store, filled with boring thrift store items priced too high. Although they had some generic but still cool reproduction 90's wear, I was left wanting more. My friends bought their "parental advisory" shirts, and were luckily given lots of cool stickers with their purchase. Overall my advice is to purchase things from their
online store because they have a super rad collection of new items that are not found at the store. I think they should rid the store of all shitty t-shirts and continue on with the selling of their own product because the things they create are better than the things they resell. I give Cobra Shop a 6/10 but it has the possibility of becoming a 10/10.
⚡⚡GLITTER DEATH⚡⚡
Located at
1443 n. highland, Hollywood CA 90028
The reason I discovered this store was because it is physically the neighbor of the Cobra Shop. The aesthetics of this store is quite similar to the Cobra Shop, but 50's-80's themed instead of 90's. Immediately I knew that this shop sold things similar to what I have favorited on sites like
Etsy. We browsed through the vintage dresses, records, and upstairs art gallery, all being quite unique and interesting. The handmade and vintage jewelry that filled the front desk was awesome and so was the employee/owner?, Manny. He told us all about his knowledge of interesting characters such as Charles Manson and was a complete delight to converse with. Overall I give glitter death a 8.5/10, with their only flaw being not as much inventory as it should have. As a growing store I think it will grow and flourish, hopefully becoming as popular as the Cobra Shop.
Pygmy Hippo Shoppe:
Located at
306 N. Stanley Ave, Los Angeles, Ca 90036
Website:
Here
I had somehow stumbled upon this store's Instagram, saw all their adorable handmade and vintage items, and knew this store had the potential to be one of my favorite stores ever. And now, it is. We pulled up to the shop, and I had expected it to be around the size of a small living room, but it was more the size of a bathroom. Despite the small size, I spent a solid 30 minutes in there, looking through all the wonderful merchandise and chatting with the shop's owner (who was so sweet and sincerely passionate about the store). I was amazed at the fact that I wanted to buy almost every single item in the store, especially the jewelry and
these pink floral cat ears. I give Pygmy Hippo Shoppe a 11/10, exceeding any and all expectations.
Buffalo Exchange:
Located at
2449 Main St, Santa Monica, Ca, 90405
Website:
Here
Of course I had to do some second hand shopping while in LA, so my friend suggested the Buffalo Exchange in Santa Monica. Yes I know there are many other Buffalo Exchanges in the US, and I have been to the one in Long Beach and the one on the Haight in San Fransisco, but this one was different. Located next to a Ben & Jerrys' in downtown Santa Monica, this store was filled to the brim with awesome clothing and shoes. I had to limit myself to which racks I looked at because I only had 30 dollars and I didn't want to fall in love with something and not be able to buy it. I found countless high end tops for only 10 dollars, but also a ton of vintage finds. In the back of the store they have a vintage dress rack, the number one thing I look for. I ended up purchasing a handmade parrot print terry cloth maxi dress, velveteen high waisted shorts, and a adorable vintage button up with palm tree embroidery. I would've spent at least another 100 dollars if I could at this shop. Not to mention the staff members were courteous and conversational. The Santa Monica Buffalo Exchange gets a solid 10/10 for being my new favorite second hand store.
What I've learned from this experience is that I need to live in LA because the shopping is perfect for me. The End.
So thats my blog post for today. Remember, what you wear decides your future. And you want a fabulous future.
XOXO,
Maddy
