Lessons Learned in the Garment District

Lesson #1: Your first visit to the Garment District should not involve money. In fact, leave all forms of money at home. Instead, write down what you find interesting, and the price, and return after having done a more complete survey.

Lesson #2: There's more than one bead store in the Garment District. Many more.

Lesson #3: If there's something you need for a costume, accessory, or item of clothing, it can be found in the Garment District. (Did you know there's entire stores dedicated to buttons? I found at least two, and I certainly didn't get very far.)

Lesson #4: Stores specialize. Bead stores. Button stores. Trim stores. Note that trim stores will likely not sell the thread required to sew said trim on.

Lesson #5: A grey day is not an ideal day for exploring the Garment District. The grey turned to drizzle, and made the experience rather less pleasant. I'm thinking there's also more street vendors on sunny summer days. (Even the fruit guys were absent today... and I wanted a banana.)

Lesson #6: Leave home in the morning, the earlier the better. Given that shops close around 5 or 6, you want to get there early, rather than mid or late afternoon.

Given the drizzle and the fact that I spent too much time shopping in the first few bead stores (and that it was around 2pm when I left home), I ended up seeing very little of the Garment District. I did, however, come home with loot.



Too bad my family will likely be less than thrilled with beaded stitch markers for Christmas. Hopefully my swap pals will be happy, though.