Of all the many vintage stores in Brooklyn, five stand out as the darlings of the scene: Antoinette, Awoke, Collections, Dusty Rose, and Horizons. And to know them is to shop them. For many fashion-obsessed New Yorkers, vintage pieces from these five local businesses make up a hefty portion of their wardrobes — mine included. In fact, I still remember exactly who introduced me to Dusty Rose during the first summer I lived in the city. In the three years since, I’ve been back more times than I can count.
Now, in order to protect themselves and their businesses during these uncertain and unstable times, the owners of all five shops are banding together to drum up sales and support for each other in the best way they know how: With a giveaway.
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Starting today and running until Saturday, each of the five stores are offering up the chance to win a $100 gift card, with a total of $500 on the line. The gift cards, which will never expire, can be used either on Instagram or in real life (upon re-opening, that is) and will be chosen on April 25th at 8 pm EST.
To enter, the rules are simple. Like many giveaways, this one involves liking each of the store’s individual posts and tagging three friends in the comment section of all five. In addition, participants must follow all of the stores involved to be considered. Once you’ve entered each of the five giveaways, you’re good to go. Come Saturday, you could very well have a shopping spree to partake in.
Anyone who’s been following the current financial crisis knows by now that what the government is doing “to help” small businesses isn’t helping, at least not enough. There was roughly $349 billion set aside to help small businesses prevent layoffs and maintain their employees in a fund called the Paycheck Protection Program. According to CNBC, $243.4 million of that has already been allocated to large, publicly traded companies like DMC Global, Wave Life Sciences, and Fiesta Restaurant Group, all three of which have market values greater than $100 million. Now, $349 billion later, the entire fund has been used up.
The government is unlikely to come up with a solution that will save small businesses like Antoinette, Awoke, Collections, Dusty Rose, and Horizons anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that fans of the stores can’t help support them in the meantime. Sign up for the New York Shops Together giveaway today, and win or lose, check out what’s up for grabs at each of the five participating stores. Who knows? Maybe the in-quarantine item you didn’t know you needed is only a click away.