Original 2nd Hand Land - History of a shop.
Here are some pictures of the original 2nd Hand Land. The shop was situated at 281 Cleveland St. in Redfern.
We started trading July 2009 and it was all over by March 2010. In that time we developed into 50% of our
full potential. Both partners had day jobs and we opened very strange hours. Retail for us was a huge learning curve, especially when you are situated in a high traffic area (as in cars and trucks) where people are trying to walk by as fast as possible. Did I mention we had no display window. We had to have a gimmick. Our gimmick was great value.
We had some great stockists, traders that sold at markets around Sydney, giving us consignment pieces
as well as our own stock all of which was sold at very reasonable prices. We traveled to Tokyo, Japan to source great vintage pieces and nik naks.
And we tried to offer something for everyone, as our customer base was quite varied. Sometimes down right weird but we loved them all. Like the Russian lady who wanted to buy only flat shoes and at the same time sell us her dead husbands collection of porn.
We were mentioned in www.thethousands.com.au and invited to participate in the 2010 Laneway Music Festival markets where we won best retailer award from the folks at the end of the day.
There were many good times had but the shop needed considerable attention and life had taken a happy turn with the news of a baby to come.
We were forced to close the doors and knuckle down in preparation of bubs imminent arrival.
This site hopes to keep the flame burning for the little vintage shop called 2nd Hand Land.
The mural which graced our front of shop was done by Jumbo and Zap. Two grafitti artists working in Sydney. They collaborate on works around town. Jumbo has a website: http://www.jumboism.com/
Our shop sign was made by
Melissa Fallshaw. A great prop designer and stylist working in fashion and film in Sydney. Mel worked with found and recycled bits and pieces to create our logo. To check out more of her work press the link: http://melissafallshaw.com/