Midweek Mugging: Lost & Found Art Vintage Kitsch

This week’s Midweek Mugging recipient is Kat Shubaly of Lost & Found Art Vintage Kitsch.

Located at 2383 Agricola St. in Halifax’s north end, the store offer second-hand clothing along with one-of-a-kind pieces by local artisans, and accessories such as jewellery, purses and pins.

The store opened in 2006 and is owned by Anya Nordeen and Jay Melanson.

Shubaly, a manager who has been with the shop on and off for the past six years, said Nordeen has a great eye and will find many of the items they sell in the store while thrift shopping in cities like New York.

Shubaly said that when selecting clothing to sell, the store looks for vintage pieces that appeal to today’s fashion trends while also keeping an eye out for items that wow.

“Denim is huge for us, and we’re big into nice fabrics so linen, silk,” Shubaly said. “And then trying to find pieces that are so weird or unique…a piece that people see and scramble for.”

She said the store creates its unique vibe by mixing big-city glamour with Halifax’s own small-towns charms. 

“I really like the shop because it has a bit of a connection to the bigger-city feel in New York and Montreal and Toronto, that are run in the same way that we run it,” Shubaly said, “But then there’s also amazing local stuff that we are able to engage with and sell…so it sort of becomes a launch pad for people in the city.”

She said following the closure of Seeds Gallery in 2013, which gave NSCAD students a place to showcase and sell their work, many student artist began selling their pieces out of Lost & Found. In addition to this, the shop has a different art show each month, featuring local artists across a variety of mediums, including ceramics and graphic prints.

Shubaly said their customers tend to be university-aged. The store has found popularity on Instagram, and Shubaly said young people using the app will often see a photo of an item they want online and then visit the store to find it.

“We have some dedicated fans as well,” she said. “There’s like, groups of people that come in, every Friday I see them and they check [the racks], so it’s part of their routine.”

She said that while there are other second-hand stores in the neighbourhood, there is enough variety with vintage clothes that each shop is able to offer something different.

“I think for us…people are pretty confident that they’ll come in and find something that’s cool and maybe a little weird, and affordable,” Shubaly said.