The North Fork’s fraternal twin, the South Fork, is known for main streets lined with glitzy outposts from Chanel, Prada and Louis Vuitton. If you’re searching for this season’s newest shoes from Paris or the latest viral luxury handbag, the North Fork probably isn’t the shopping destination for you.

But if you’re hunting for hidden treasures, rare garments and pieces with a history, you’ve come to the right half of the East End, where a small but distinctive vintage clothing scene is thriving.

Three businesses in particular represent different versions of that scene: a longtime Greenport storefront, an appointment-only showroom specializing in antique garments and a recently opened Southold shop whose owner discovered vintage collecting during the pandemic.

The Times Vintage

Since 2013, Greenport’s The Times Vintage has been a destination for vintage enthusiasts. The store’s longevity in Greenport’s challenging retail landscape reflects owner Elizabeth Sweigert’s persistence and the community’s enthusiasm for her creative vision.

Sweigert, who grew up in Texas, took a chance on that vision after graduating from art school in Manhattan. The North Fork wasn’t on her radar until her father moved to Shelter Island.

“The building where the shop is — which is the old Suffolk Times building — became available, and the timing was just right,” she said. “The stars aligned, and it felt like the time was now. So, my dad and I were like, ‘You know what? Let’s try it. Why not? If it doesn’t work, someone else can have a shop there.’”

Now, she has dedicated “over a third of her life” to the space, filling it with clothing from every decade of the 20th century. Sweigert’s inventory also includes a sizable record collection, retro housewares and an array of accessories and other curiosities.

“A lot of people come into the shop just to look around,” she said. “They don’t necessarily buy anything, but they’re reminded of something sweet from their past.”

All Hours

While Sweigert’s business relies largely on foot traffic, All Hours, a by-appointment showroom in Greenport, offers a very different kind of vintage shopping experience.

Bianca Munguía-Howie, who opened the showroom in 2023, gives customers the opportunity to view and try on rare historical pieces, many dating to the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Munguía-Howie painstakingly restores many of the garments herself. Her curated showroom, on the second floor of a repurposed Greenport warehouse, is filled with clothing that may be more than a century old but is still intended to be worn.

“I source a piece, I identify it, I study it, it gets mended, it gets cleaned, it gets assessed, and then it goes to the showroom,” she said. “I’m not selling by volume in person. I’m selling by piece.”

That attention to individual garments stands in sharp contrast to mass-produced fast fashion, and the sellers say interest in vintage clothing has expanded significantly in recent years.

Maren Beverly photos

“Before that, people were into it, but it was much more niche,” Sweigert said of the years before the pandemic. “The floodgates opened because everyone is becoming more conscious about sustainability, which is a huge positive. The younger generation is especially aware of that. Now everyone loves vintage, no matter who they are, which is so great.”

Liza’s Lace

Brigitte Quinn, owner of the recently opened Liza’s Lace in Southold, also fell in love with the hunt for vintage clothing during the pandemic. She spent her free time visiting thrift shops and gradually built a collection of her own.

The opening of Liza’s Lace marks the newest addition to the North Fork’s vintage clothing scene.

“A lot of the neighboring businesses are female-owned, and everyone is genuinely supportive of one another,” Quinn said. “The product offerings complement each other without competing directly — there’s books, new home goods, vintage home decor, and now vintage apparel.”

Quinn credits Lori Guyer, owner of neighboring White Flower Farmhouse, with helping give her the confidence to turn her interest in vintage clothing into a business.

“I was out on the North Fork with a family I nannied for, and I ran into Lori from White Flower at a yard sale,” Quinn said. “I was telling her about my dream of opening a store one day, and she asked, ‘Why don’t you come do a pop-up at my store?’ I was shocked and asked, ‘Seriously? You don’t even know me.’ But she said, ‘No, I believe in the vision and I want to help you.’”

When the space next door to Guyer became available, Quinn said Guyer contacted her before it went on the market.

“She told me, ‘You need to be here,’” Quinn said.

Together, the three businesses illustrate the range of vintage fashion available on the North Fork, from 1970s sequined going-out tops and 1950s party dresses that could have stepped out of ‘Mad Men’ to delicate 1920s silk slips and century-old lace garments.

‘There’s a strong artistic community here, so people lean toward funkier, laid-back, beachy or nautical aesthetics.’
Brigitte Quinn

The sellers say their businesses also depend heavily on trust — not only with shoppers, but with dealers, collectors and private sellers who provide many of the pieces that eventually make their way onto racks and into showrooms.

Munguía-Howie said her business would not survive without the client base she has cultivated among people looking to pass along antique clothing, often pieces that have remained in their families for generations.

“We get to look at these pieces of their family history together, and I can be like, ‘Dang, your grandma was rich, and she said she didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but this is French lace! And so it’s imported,’” Munguía-Howie said. “I get to build different pieces of their history with them that way, which is really fun and exciting.”

For Sweigert, those relationships are just as important as knowing the difference between a 1940s dress and a 1970s reproduction.

“I don’t think people realize it, but this job is very much about customer service, clienteling and genuinely caring for people,” she said.

There is also an appeal that has little to do with trends: the experience of finding a vintage garment that fits exactly right and knowing there may not be another one like it.

Each piece carries some trace of a previous life, while offering its next owner the chance to give it another one. Unlike clothing produced in large quantities for contemporary retailers, vintage shopping often rewards individuality, craftsmanship and longevity.

“Beyond aesthetics, there’s the superior craftsmanship of vintage garments,” Quinn said. “They were built to last — and the fact that they’re still around proves it.”

So what are shoppers looking for this summer?

At All Hours, Munguía-Howie said antique vacation wear has been especially popular.

“I feel like Edwardian whites are so in with mini shorts and whatnot,” she said.

Quinn said summer visitors often use the North Fork as an opportunity to loosen up their wardrobes.

“A lot of visitors come out from the city looking to relax, have fun and dress a bit more playfully,” she said. “There’s a strong artistic community here, so people lean toward funkier, laid-back, beachy or nautical aesthetics.”

Styles will continue to change, but the durability of the garments themselves may be part of the reason vintage fashion keeps finding new audiences. After decades — and in some cases more than a century — many of the clothes are still here, waiting for someone else to wear them.