AFTER a six-month hiatus, vintage store Jonnie Loves Noreen on Patton Street have reopened this month, just in time for St Patrick’s Day racegoers to take a deep dive of the shelves in search of a 1960s outfit to fit this years theme, with the race meet celebrating the 60th anniversary of the event.
Shop owner Karyn Stuart has run the vintage store for 10 years now, and said her hope is that locals will be more adventurous when clothes shopping.
“I just want people to buy beautiful pieces and be more adventurous with their clothes,” she said.
“And for people to invest in quality over quantity.”
Ms Stuart was born in Broken Hill but moved to Sydney in the early 1980s.
“I wanted to live the fun, Sydney life in the 80s,” she said. “I worked in the shoe department at David Jones, the best job I ever had!
“It was at Bondi Junction so there were lots of wealthy people, and you’d get paid on commission, so I was earning an extra $1000 a month, which was a lot of money in the 80s.”
Ms Stuart said while living in Sydney she met her future husband via a sort of ‘rent-a-flat mate’ process.
“You’d fill out a form for what sort of person you’re looking for as a flat mate, and they’d match you to someone,” she said.
“So we were flat mates for eight months and then we just started doing everything together.”
In 2008, the Global Financial Crisis hit, causing Mr Stuart to lose his work as a recruitment consultant.
“Nobody was hiring,” Ms Stuart said, “and I wanted the kids to grow up here.”
“Sydney wasn’t as fun anymore with kids because the people were a nightmare, the traffic was a nightmare, and I wanted the kids to have a country lifestyle.”
So the family relocated back to Broken Hill, buying a house in the south of the city.
Ms Stuart said she’d always been collecting bits and pieces of vintage.
“I’d buy stuff that reminded me of my childhood, “she said. “I loved the 60s, 70s, 80s, they were such good quality.”
She said often when visiting the post office on Patton Street, she’d often feel disappointed to see tourists wandering the street, popping in to visit Bells Milk Bar but not having anywhere else to go due to all the empty shop fronts.
“I saw this shop and I called and asked if they’d rent it to me,” she said of the shopfront at 166 Patton St.
“She’d had problems with the last person she rented to but I told her ‘look, just give me a go, I just want to do it for three months and see how it goes.’”
Eventually, Ms Stuart ended up buying the shop, which she named Jonnie Loves Noreen after her parents.
Today, Jonnie Loves Noreen sells vintage clothes, furniture, homeware and a few select locally-made pieces, like Martillies Handmade shirts.
Ms Stuart has big plans to expand the shop into the outside courtyard area and convert a small shed in the backyard into a makeshift bar for events.
The shop is stocked full of vintage frocks, blazers and more, many to suit the theme of the upcoming St Pat’s Day races Fashion on the Fields competition, which is 1960s inspired.
