Tinsel Trading Relocates After 75 Years

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Here at Racked, we spill a significant amount of ink on the pop-up shops and other flash-in-the-pan collaborations. But occasionally, there is a store whose noteworthiness lies in its sheer staying power, and for which we must do a slow clap.

Just around the corner from Parsons and in the heart of the Garment District at 47 West 38th Street between Broadway and 5th Avenue, vintage trim shop Tinsel Trading has been dealing in gifts, glitter, glassware and gobbledygook since 1933. After sprouting two more stores on the same block (quirkily named The Store Next Door and The Store Across the Street) and a rousing 45 years at the present location, they're scooping up and moving a block away to 1 West 37th Street in August.

Uprooting 75 years of decorative trim won't be an easy feat; the store has mounted a huge sale to clear out inventory and unearth long-buried treasures. From their website:

During WWII, [the store's] biggest client turned out to be the U.S. government. Unable to import metal threads themselves for uniforms, they relied on my grandfather, who had been warehousing thousands and thousands of spools for years. To this day there remains a large amount of this inventory in the basement, all on the manufacturer's original wooden spools, paper-wrapped with gold labels. Many of them are still in the wooden crates they arrived in from France, never having been opened in over 70 years.

Did you hear that, Chris March? They've got crazy, antique shiny metal doo-dads! Also expect Martha Stewart to be dropping by, as constant nods to Tinsel Trading in her magazine and on her show since 1990 have helped keep business booming.

Go check out one of the good ol' New York family businesses while the getting is good; we're thinking yards and yards of tassels for no apparent reason. Or you know, work on your Halloween costume so you're not stuck doing the whole piecemeal American Apparel thing again.
· Tinsel Trading [Official Site]