Lafayette, California – It feels a little bit strange to describe a store as a brand-new vintage store! But that’s exactly what you’ll find in downtown Lafayette, California, at the Clocktower Shopping Center.
The Clocktower Shopping Center itself has undergone a dramatic renewal over the last few years, so it feels appropriate that one of the stores that opened there is dedicated to finding older things and making them new and exciting again.
Just over one year ago, Vintage Vida opened its corner storefront across from Breakfast Club in downtown Lafayette. The store sells vintage items dating back to the 1800s, but also extending through the ’90s and early 2000s.
Antique stores tend to focus more on old paintings, furniture, and other home décor items. Vintage stores like Vintage Vida go much broader, with everything from a 1970s-era BART sign to classic 1980s Halloween decorations, to shirts and other clothing from the ’90s and beyond.
I visited Vintage Vida with my wife and son on a whim while walking around downtown Lafayette.
The shelves inside the store are stacked to the ceiling with all kinds of items spanning decades, or even centuries. It feels like a Victorian cabinet of curiosities—only here you can purchase and take home anything on the shelf!
There’s a fine line between a vintage store and a junk shop, and Vintage Vida does a fantastic job of staying firmly on the “upscale and beautiful” side of it. The store is clearly carefully curated, with sections reflecting different time periods and categories of items. Vintage Vida recently won a Best of the East Bay award from Diablo Magazine, so lots of people locally apparently agree.
In the back, I found a section with vintage analog media, including vinyl and cassette tapes.
For eight dollars, I took home a cassette version of R.E.M.’s iconic Out of Time album. It’s a great excuse to dust off the old tape player and listen to my favorite band in a new (old) format!
My son found a bowl of vintage marbles, and we could’ve kept browsing for much longer, as the small storefront manages to pack in a huge variety of interesting items.
Traditional antique stores can feel like the kind of place where you go to buy a $400 side table when you want your home to feel like it was featured in Architectural Digest. Vintage stores feel more like an exciting scavenger hunt through your own past—even if, like me, you’re a child of the ’80s and ’90s.
Vintage Vida is open at 3581 Mount Diablo Blvd. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Hi,
Just saw your article on vintage vida. The vintage clothing store you might check out next is called “ faded gold vintage “. Thats the oldest and most successful vintage store in the whole area. On third location, in downtown Martinez , opened in the middle of covid breakout, and, is a local woman owned and operated store. Check it out on instagram. I think it would make an interesting story. Thanks