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New York City has more stores than anyone could physically tackle, but somehow we always keep returning to the usual suspects. To break out of the rut, we've asked some local shopping and fashion gurus to provide their hidden retail gems—those unique stores around our fantastic city that we might not all know about. Cue the Beatles: We're about to get a little help from our friends.
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Image via Google Maps
Hyden Yoo was born in Seoul, grew up in Houston, and now lives in New York City. He graduated with a degree in Biology, but decided he wanted to try his hand at fashion design. After he began to notice guys wearing shirts that were unflattering and disproportionate, he designed a shirt with a slimmer fit that was long enough to tuck in, eliminating any resemblance to a sloppy garment. Thus, the beginning of his namesake line was formed. Then, after winning 50K on the 3rd season of Fear Factor, he invested the money into creating his collection. When he isn't working away at evolving his line, he checks out City Foundry—a place where he breaks the first cardinal rule of vintage shopping: Do Not Touch!
"I know I'm probably the last person to find out about this spot because I don't get out much, but City Foundry is kind of amazing. I've been there several times in the past few months, and I can spend hours inside browsing through all the cool vintage, antique furniture and artifacts. They say don't touch, but I literally touch and mess with all their industrial artifacts and sports equipment. Some pieces are super dirty and grimy, just as they were when they were put to good use, like their vintage 1920's boxing gloves, and their vintage meat scales. You really don't have to wear flannel or have a wooly beard to shop here because they have something for everyone to put inside their home or office. It's definitely a must see if you're in the area."
· Hyden Yoo [Official Site]
· City Foundry [Official Site]
· All Shopping Confidential Posts [Racked NY]