GStella Habus is a real estate agent. But she quickly realized: “That’s not my thing.” The young woman now has her own shop on Wiesenstrasse in Frankfurt-Bornheim, where she grew up and knows every spot.
Half a year ago, Habus opened her second-hand boutique for small furniture, home accessories, decorative items, jewelery and fashion from the 1950s to 1970s – she called the shop Wiesen Vintage – and it obviously struck a chord. On Saturdays, when the neighbors from Bornheim and the Nordend stroll towards the weekly market, most of them stop curiously in front of the shop windows, and some people go inside. The shop, which was previously a second-hand shop, has more space than expected, because the back rooms continue.
weakness for old things
Habus has a weakness for old things, if only because then nothing new has to be produced, as she thinks. She only wears used clothes. Even as a child, she and her mother went to flea markets a lot. “I love the small, special things,” she says. In addition to the Internet, flea markets are still a source of goods today. The retailer also stocks the range, especially the fashion, with things that her customers bring on commission or donate.
We found several things during our visit: a silk blouse with a distinctive pattern (24 euros), a picture with a delicately painted bouquet of cornflowers (15 euros, with frame) and a poster of an old margarine advertisement (7 euros), which was used for decoration comes into the kitchen. Between 10 and 30 euros, that’s the range in which most prices move, which doesn’t mean that a flower bench from the fifties doesn’t cost 160 euros or a designer coat 180 euros.
A visit to the vintage shop slows things down. As a rule, Habus sits behind her display case made of wood and glass – an indestructible piece of furniture, as is known from Frankfurt shops that no longer exist. And when you watch her calmly hang newly arrived blouses and sweaters, you wonder who is actually more relaxed here: Simba, the neighborhood cat, stretched out between Gucci pumps and a transistor radio in the shop window lies, or the shopkeeper.
Wiesen Vintage, Wiesenstrasse 17, Frankfurt; Tuesday to Friday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.