Reflections of the Past

After reading some of the reviews my daughter-​in-​law and I weren’t sure we wanted to visit this store, but she is a huge vintage clothing fan and I had walked through the store many times in the past to go to the cat shelter which is housed behind it. We went on a Thursday afternoon and when we got there, there was one other customer browsing and two older ladies visiting, one behind the counter. They greeted us pleasantly and pretty much ignored us after that. The selection is HUGE! I have never seen so many vintage hats and accessories in one place. And the clothing is extremely clean, organized and well-​priced. My DIL was amazed and tried on several winter coats, which were ½ price. She settled on a beautiful wool ankle-​length burgundy coat which was priced at $ 14, an extremely low price, especially for the excellent quality. They also have a large «costume» area filled with vintage and copy clothing for plays and Halloween, I assume. They had a very large selection of lady’s gloves (for dress, not outside wear), buttons, hair accessories and jewelry. And did I mention the hats? Outstanding! Everything was priced reasonably. We were there for probably an hour and had a great time browsing. When we checked out, the women were very pleasant. Not sure who the previous reviewers dealt with, but we had no problems. Also, unlike the last review, we never smelled any odors from the shelter. Would definitely make this a stop if you are into vintage clothing, and if I may make a plug, donate or visit the shelter behind and take home a feline friend!

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems harder and harder to find good vintage clothing and accessories that are actually vintage and in good shape. If you feel that way, too, then Reflections might be worth a visit.
I don’t really look much at the regular/​nonvintage resale things, though there is a good-​sized collection of that, but the vintage items are great and priced well. Also, if something is not in perfect condition the tag indicates the issue and the price reflects it. The tags also identify the era of the item and some racks are even organized by period.
The owner is very knowledgeable about what she’s selling — a plus. It’s rare these days, but she even has a nice selection of vintage men’s items. My husband and I both have gotten some beautiful things here — a Pendleton bathrobe for him and some beautiful cashmere sweaters and a couple vintage shift dresses for me. I’ve resisted the jewelry, hats, glasses, gloves, purses and other stuff but it’s really fun to look it all over.
One thing I wish is that the owner was more willing to keep up a more informative web site but my guess is that she’s too busy running an all-​volunteer cat rescue to be bothered. Bless her heart.

I agree with the previous poster — their stuff is VERY overpriced. The woman who owns this store is extremely rude and arrogant. I had some flapper beads on layaway that were marked $ 30 (or so I and the sales associate thought). A couple weeks later, this woman starts calling my house (my elderly mother lives with me) and telling anyone who answered the phone all about how I was trying to «cheat» her out of $ 50. What? It was her sales associate that wrote up the ticket! There were other flapper beads priced at $ 40, so there was no reason to think the price was incorrect. She ended up yanking them off of my layaway without asking me first (I was out of town) and then told me later «well, at least I got them back!» I then told her I wanted to cancel the layaway, as I did not appreciate this treatment, at which point she got really upset and told me that she was keeping my ENTIRE deposit. I tried to speak with her rationally, but she kept interrupting me to put me down and make rude personal remarks. I will NEVER go near this store again, and if you value your dignity, you will not either. I told her I would appreciate a part of my deposit back, and she told me «You are not going to win this one!» WTH? RUDE, RUDE, RUDE! Sadly, I am finding this type of attitude in Wisconsin appears to be the norm.

This place has, by far and away, the best vintage hat selection I’ve ever seen. Their prices are ridiculously good on hats and accessories– $ 12 for a vintage beaded clutch. $ 15 for a hat with a veil in great condition.
There was also a gigantic mink muffler that was only $ 35. While I’m a vegetarian and against fur as fashion, it’s something that I deeply regret passing up. I mean, come on– who doesn’t need a muffler the size of a pillow? For all of those film premieres I go to in frigidly cold places? What was I thinking?!
They have an entire vintage section at the back where I found some really cool pieces. Their modern clothes and shoes, however, were very meh and overpriced.