Vivant Vintage — Local services in Boston

Small Vintage store with a curated selection of garments and silver jewelry.

5 stars because of the amazing staff - incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. They’re responsible for launching me from shy/cautious in the world of 2nd hand/vintage into confident and building a really cool wardrobe

The store alone would be ~4 stars, but easily 5/5 thanks to the people behind it all

JEANS: The jeans selection is great - with every size measured manually (tagged/sorted so you don’t have to walk around with measuring tape, since size tags are VERY misleading, particularly with vintage clothes).

Expect to find Levis/Wranglers/Mudd/Lee’s jeans in various styles, but particularly straight/tapered. Flared/Baggy sells quickly but they’re restock constantly- my first pair of vintage jeans were a perfect pair of Lee’s Pipes I got for $75. Expect to pay $50-80 for most pairs of vintage jeans

early 00s/90s Levi’s Silvertabs are uncommon and sell out fast if thats what you’re looking for.

TSHIRTS: They always have a rack or two sorted by size. Mostly 80s-00s tees with minimal holes/flaws. They don’t smell or look “thrift-store filthy.” Selection isn’t huge but you can always get lucky. Expect to pay $15-35 for a cool vintage tshirt

JACKETS: Good variety, but less so for smaller sizes. 80s-90s are common. Since Carrhart is so trendy and $$$ these past few years- a big % of their inventory is going to be that. Cool denim jackets and a small but interesting rack of leather jackets.

Jackets can be inexpensive but tend to get quite pricey ($100-$150+) as they do quite a bit of curation.

OVERALL FINAL REMARKS: Most jeans/tshirts/jackets are early 2000s/late 90s. There is a good handful of 80s and a couple 70s (and earlier) items but they’re far less common.

It’s a great place to start getting into the hobby of vintage shopping and building a wardrobe to make you the coolest looking person in the room.

I started my adventures with this hobby here, with 2 nice thrifted items I picked up traveling pushing me to try out a recommendation for Vivant

Now I can confidently recommend it to at least browse and look around for pieces that you never expected to love the look of. Go try it out - maybe you’ll find something to take home - but at the very least you’ll get inspo/ideas or just learn a bit from their resident expert (middle aged high-energy guy with grey hair, he’s great but I forget his name)

BONUS: Their Jewelry selection of silver vintage rings/braclets/necklaces is solid. Ive been told the Newburry location is better for Jewelry since they move through huge volumes. Can easily find a cool ring for $25-40

They alsp standard “thrift store sunglasses” and even little inexpensive extras like crystals/license plates you can buy for a few bucks if you’re deadset on not leaving a vintage store Empty...

I don’t think I’ve ever worn a piece of clothing I’ve bought from Vivant that wasn’t met with an insane amount of compliments. They have some of the most unique and beautiful vintage pieces that are truly one of one. All the staff is knowledgable and friendly, and they have a great selection of jewelry as well as clothes. At this point, half of my jewelry collection consists of their sterling silver goodies, which I always get at a reasonable price. The store itself is like a museum, it is truly just fun to walk around and admire the clothes, flick through their record collection, and browse through the vintage ephemera. And if you need a pair of vintage pants that fit you perfectly, trust me they have them. Plus they are always doing events to engage with the community, bonus points...

This place bummed me out. Parking is a nightmare. Many items are overpriced, you can figure that out if you do 5 seconds of Google research on the product you're looking at. DO NOT TRUST THE JEWELRY. Sadly these people are classic con artists. Their selection is huge, but the majority of it is overpriced and fake. I was told all the pieces in the tray I was looking at were sterling silver, but I examined 2 dozen and a half pieces that were not. If you want to overpay for beyond-used items & be followed around the entire time like a criminal, this place is for you. Otherwise, just go to Savers. I had bad vibes the entire time I was in there, and it truly...