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| - I loved Dandelion when I lived in Champaign. Standouts: red corduroy flares that fit like a glove. A garment my roommate found that looked, in her words, "like somebody sheared Elmo and made him into a sweater". Old school men's shirts that gently nudged my college boyfriend away from straight-ticket punk rock skater gear.
The prices for sell/trade are fair. I once had an agonizing dilemma in which I had to choose among the following: food that was not ramen, a weekend in Chicago centered around seeing Sleater Kinney, and retaining possession of a variety of beautiful clothing items I rarely wore. I went with selling the clothes in favor of the concert. That turned out to be a questionable decision, as the weekend was an epic disaster and I occasionally missed a couple of the pieces I parted with. However, on the upside, the show was great and I like to think my vintage men's stripey silk pajama pants made someone's day.
I didn't visit Dandelion frequently enough to be a regular customer, but my roommate got to know the owner, Sarah, quite well. She is not only a lovely person, but has excellent taste and always had intimate knowledge of everything in the shop. As for the complaints about her employees being blasé hipster douchebags, I guess this is fair (provided things are the same as when I was last there). However, I find hipster douchebags amusing, not annoying. Just set the bar really, really low in terms of social skills and you'll start to feel sorry for them.
Drop by Dandelion. Even if the items there aren't your style, you'll still be intrigued by the fun vintage wear.
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