Athens Underground

Went to Athens over Labor Day weekend to visit the Dairy Barn. An employee at the DB suggested we might visit Athens Underground if we had time; she works there, and thought we might like it. We made a point of visiting the next day, before leaving for home. The employee who told us about it happened to be working that day, which made our visit even better. Really, I didn’t think we would be there very long, but well over an hour later we had chatted up our new BFF, and had the opportunity to meet the owner. Is she as surly as some here have made her out to be? When she brushed in with a delivery, I definitely pegged her as brusk, but after listening to her and my husband compare customer stories I realized that she simply doesn’t suffer fools gladly. After years of dealing with all manner of foolishness and entitlement, my guess is she shoots first and asks questions later.
You could be in that store for hours and still run into something that you missed the first 20 times. It is a combination of vintage and modern, from vinyl albums to grandma’s linens to costume jewelry and vintage clothing. I also saw some cool new pieces, namely silver jewelry from two different designers. The clothing and wig collection, coupled with the right accessories — yep, I can see that store as Halloween Central for a one-​of-​a-​kind costume. Like I said, I thought it would be a short trip, but my husband found a great vintage tweed winter coat (he’s been looking for one for months), while I got several jewelry pieces and some vintage linen that I will make the foundation of an art quilt. All in all, a very successful trip! It is not the cheapest store I’ve ever been in, but it is not the most expensive vintage store either. Just remember — vintage does not equal Goodwill. Don’t be fooled by these reviews; go down and check out the place if you are looking to shop. If you want to make new friends, I recommend visiting one of the local coffee shops instead.

Horrible experience there EVERYTIME. Whenever I go back home I like to scrounge around for great vintage pieces, this is the worst vintage store in existence. The owner/​workers are god awful human beings that treat customer like sh*t. I manage a vintage shop in a larger city and that is no way to sell clothing items. I will never return to this store! Hey old lady owner that thinks her sh*t doesn’t stink: 1– get over yourself 2– you know nothing about vintage thus you cannot price accordingly

Very fun place to window shop. I’ve never actually bought anything here but its fun to stop by sometimes and check out the jewelry, odd 80s fashion, records and wig selection. The store is quite large with many different rooms and is very organized. I’ve been to better vintage shops in larger cities, but its really the only place like it in Athens. My friends have bought their halloween outfits here.

A vintage lover and sometime on-​line seller, it’s safe to say that I’m fairly knowledgeable about vintage clothing. I visit Athens Underground only to get my vintage fix while living away from home. If there were other options for vintage shopping, I would happily never return.
Most of the prices are unreasonable and there are items that have sat on the rack for over three years with no price reduction. Why? The workers REFUSE to lower prices at all; haggling is a fact of vintage shopping and it’s ridiculous that even when pointing out flaws and asking them to go down a couple of dollars, they won’t. I don’t understand why their prices are so high when the items have been sitting around for so long.
The owner is one of the rudest people I’ve ever met, convinced every shopper is a thief, condescending to the staff, and unwilling to help shoppers put outfits or costumes together. A vintage store owner should be able to pull items from the back, suggest jewelry/​accessories to match a dress, etc. and should WANT to be helpful. She’s such an unsavory person…
There’s also modern clothing and jewelry being sold as vintage. I’ve noticed it several times and was very disappointed.
I would rate this one star, had I not found a few nice pieces here. I bought a two-​piece plaid skirt suit with a mink collar from the 1960s for $ 40, which is a fair price. i also bought a gunne sax blouse for $ 7 (which is really weird, since gunne sax are worth a lot of money). I also have several other pieces, so if you’re willing to dig and have no help (but possible harassment) from the owner, and possibly pay way more than an item is worth, go to Underground.

I like this place, but the owner is a real pill, which has no doubt influenced many a potential customer to walk away empty-​handed. The selection here is huge, especially for a small town like Athens. I think one of the reasons for this, however, is the pricing for vintage clothing is some of the most expensive I’ve seen at any vintage store. If prices aren’t reduced at some point or if occasional sales don’t happen, this place is going to burst at the seams. The racks are so incredibly stuffed as to be overwhelming, and I find that the multiple times I’ve been there I can only sift through a small fraction of the clothing there before wearing out. This would be incredible if the pieces were more unique, but one can only look through so many dozens of flowery polyester shifts all cut the same unflattering way before moving on entirely.
The wigs are great but unless one of the nicer employees is working I’m afraid to ask to try them on, or have them take down any of the display clothing. There’s also a great selection of vintage jewelry, sunglasses, hats, and other accessories. There are housewares and small furniture, vintage prints and magazines, posters, on and on.

Don’t be scared off by the surly workers this place is a goldmine of vintage fashion and eclectic accessories. There are a number of costume based stores in town that assumable cropped up to meet the demands of the Halloween Block Party.
This store is more than costumes. The back room has vintage dresses. There are plenty of wild vintage hats and accessories from just about every era. They even have clothes for the vintage man in your live. All in all, one of my favorite places in Athens.

I cannot enter this store without leaving with something, items literally leap into my hands. A good % of my clothes come from here, & they always garner compliments. This includes a $ 30 blonde shearling coat, that kicks some major booty. They have a nice selection of vintage home items, which are a bit more $ than the clothes. I also have never seen a better selection of vintage jewelry anywhere. The kicker is, all of this awesome stuff is way less expensive, and a much better selection than any vintage store in a bigger city. Which is great because I live here, but bad because it spoils trips to big city stores!