A first visit to any country should really be about going to all the sights, doing the quintessential thing native to that place. Ok, so I went to Stockholm and had cinnamon buns, herrings and meatballs. But does that mean I have to shop like a tourist? I think it’s a real tick of mine to really try and get ‘under’ the surface of a city’s shopping opportunities. So even though I only had three days in Stockholm to fit in the usual tourist garb, the more ‘obvious’ shopping spots and also a whole lot of eating (despite dining out being a tad pricy, Stockholmers LOVE their food….please excuse the 5 lbs I gained…), I also think I found a bit of a off-the-beaten-track gem.
Mint & Vintage’s presence online may be more familiar to online Swedish shoppers. which has been around since the summer of 2006 but Henrik and Anna started their retail venture in 2005 in their first store in Helsingborg. They wanted to create something that wasn’t sterile like so many edged up/cool concept stores (prevalent in Europe…) can be, a home where they invite you in, chat, say hello, like rifling through someone’s wardrobe in a cute apartment. Now, they have gotten the opportunity to do just that in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm. Literally, when I visited last weekend, their ‘store’ had only been open for two weeks.
By, ‘off-the-beaten track’, I meant it wasn’t in an obvious shopping district (48 Sankt Eriksgatan, Kungsholmen) and rather than a traditional shop front, you walked through a residential apartment courtyard and found that Mint & Vintage was nestled in a ground floor flat. ‘Feeling pampered’ and ‘service’ are key to what Mint & Vintage is about but not in that fake-glam way that ‘pampered’ has come to mean. Henrik and Anna are passionate about wanting to give create an intimate, warm and cosy atmosphere so the pics say it all really; handpicked antique furniture, Victorian prints – kind of like stepping into an 19th century parlour where ladies might peruse at each other’s frippery (clothes, hats, shoes) whilst sipping Earl Grey and eating a biscuit delicately (incidentally, Henry and Anna offer drinks to shoppers and plan to feed them with chocolates too!). They’re open Tues-Sat but outside of that, private shopping experiences can be arranged by giving them a bell. Being hurried and harassed into buying something isn’t what M&V is about at all. I literally left with a warm fuzzy feeling, not just because of my purchases but also because the shop was sending out all the right vibes.
Mint & Vintage is about mixing new and old and so the ‘Mint’ in their name denotes a great array of Swedish and Danish designers (see left). I must admit, after visiting a fair few Stockholm boutiques, I did get tired of seeing Acne, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair and other usual suspects jostling at me, not that they aren’t great in their own right but I loved the greater variety that M&V was stocking. Their website basically sells all the wares that they offer in their Stockholm showroom.
Dagmar // Pimpinette // Camilla Norrback
Maria Westerlind // Froken Sot // Tont
Good Advice // D’ahlina
Asa Niklas // Ganni // J Dauphin
Then of course, there’s the ‘Vintage’ and well selected is it too. So much so I nearly wasn’t able to pick it out as it hung on the rails along with the brand new clothes, colour coded and meshing in seamlessly, in a way that would convince even the most hard-core anti-vintagers (are there any here…?). The other thing is that all vintage pieces are branded with their own label just to give their final seal of approval. Again, all stock in-store is all online and as a personal plea to someone with small feet, please snap up those patent lace-ups. It’s Ann Demeulemeester-esque without the price tag!
Of course, I made my vintage purchase and also broke my navy/black Stockholm shopping palette which probably shows how out of the norm Mint & Vintage is in comparisom to the Swedish retail norm. Since the sunshine ain’t coming to London (mark 15th Aug in your diary, Londoners – that’s the ONE day of summer we’re gonna get!), I’m bringing it to me – in the form of this yellow mini-dress. And some strappy canvas shoes as a staple. Yes, I may be inviting wet toes but I’ll just grit my way through because in my head, it’s a sunny place.
So, why the long-a-long post on one small store in Stockholm which the majority of you may not get to go to? Hearing Henrik and Anna talk about their genuine passion to get to the core of a happy shopping experience would make any hardcore shopper such as myself weep and gush. This is proper from the heart gushing you’re seeing here by the way…