Black Mountain Vintage aims to bring sense of community to the area
A new vintage clothing store will open in Black Mountain in early 2024, with owners saying they want to focus on community.
Business partners Dana Esposito and Tyler Thomas will open Black Mountain Vintage Jan. 20 at 104 Church St.
Thomas said he has been collecting and selling vintage pieces for the last few years on his own.
“I was just collecting things that I liked and just got to the point where I couldn’t wear all of it and I was finding things that didn’t suit me,” Thomas said. “I wanted to get it out there to other people.”
Thomas said he is drawn to vintage clothing because of the unique nature of each item.
“I think that every piece is unique,” Thomas said. “You walk into a normal store, it’s 20 of the same item. You have to select through a certain amount of things in different sizes where this is all different sizes and each piece is unique. Some people are going to connect to something in there, and there’s something for everybody that nobody else will have.”
For her part, Esposito said she has been coordinating events and makers markets in town where she met Thomas. She said the two started talking about what it would look like if they would be able to open a vintage shop together.
“We sort of dreamt up the vision of what we wanted the space to look like,” Esposito said. “Literally two weeks later exactly that dream became available on the market.”
Now that they have secured a former law office space, Esposito and Thomas said they had been working on the concept for around a month.
Esposito said they want to focus on bringing a community element to the shop, in addition to vintage clothes.
“It’s going to be this space of multiple local small businesses with the backdrop of the clothes,” Esposito said.
In addition to clothes, the shop will also host work from local artisans, including printmakers, potters, jewelers, body care purveyors, herbalists and more.
Esposito also said the event work she is doing will continue, and she and Thomas will start hosting different events around town under the Black Mountain Vintage umbrella. She said these events will range from pop-up shops around town to larger shows at area colleges. Esposito said she and Thomas also hope to host speakers and DJs in the space.
Thomas said his goal with the store is to give Black Mountain residents a place to go to shop where they do not have to go too far for clothes, or compete against others for a special vintage piece.
“For them to not have to go out and search through the thrift stores and go against a bunch of other people,” Thomas said. “Just to have the curated styles here, ready for all different people.”
For Esposito, she said she wants to pair the clothing with creating a space for the community to come together.
“We want to provide the community with excellent quality items, unique pieces and an excellent, wonderful space to gather and build community,” Esposito said.
Black Mountain Vintage will host a grand opening Jan. 20 at its store at 104 Church St. While regular operating hours are still being finalized, the store will be closed on Tuesdays. For more information, visit the store on Instagram at @blackmtnvintage.
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Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Black Mountain Vintage to open late January
