ICYMI: New vintage fashion and design store opens in downtown Elora

This article previously appeared on EloraFergusToday.

ELORA – Downtown Elora will soon have a new local hub to explore vintage fashion and interior design.

Located at 82 Metcalfe St. in the old Porch Light building, 29-year-old Noah Ramage said he created his new vintage clothing and interior design store, The Showroom, for people in their 20s and 30s who live in Elora or are visiting for the day and want a fun place to shop. 

Working as an interior design assistant in Toronto before moving back to Elora to help out his mom at the Geddes Street Market during the pandemic, Ramage said he decided to start with a booth at the Elora Flea Market since he had since he had accumulated a large collection of vintage clothing with no outlet to sell them.  

Beginning with one rack, the Elora native said he quickly realized he’d need his own space as word spread and inventory grew, especially considering “no one thinks to find vintage clothes in a grocery store.” 

“No offence to my mom, but the grocery industry isn’t my passion,” said Ramage. “I think that was pretty obvious once I started making my own store in her store that I wanted to do something else. So I feel this is my way of combining all my skills into one.” 

Formerly called 2Die4, Ramage rebranded to The Showroom once he got the new space, saying he wanted a more serious name that encompassed both the vintage clothing and interior design.

While The Showroom will mostly focus on vintage clothing, Ramage said he spent a lot of time designing the inside of the store because he wants to reflect his capabilities as an interior designer. 

“It’s been a whole rebrand that I’m actually obsessed with,” said Ramage. “It’s all come together exactly how I imagined it.” 

Although Ramage always appreciated vintage fashion growing up, his obsession didn’t start until the pandemic, when he lost a lot of weight and went to the thrift stores for new clothes. When he realized the clothes actually fit, that quickly segued into buying a lot and, of course, selling. 

“I like that vintage is one-of-a-kind,” said Ramage. “I like that you can curate your own looks and find fun pieces that only you and a handful of others around the world have.” 

With hundreds of items in his collection, Ramage goes thrifting at least every two weeks, getting his inventory from a hodgepodge of places, including digging through the bins at the vintage wholesalers where he said he has the most luck. 

In the three months leading up to The Showroom’s opening, Ramage said his house was a “nightmare” as he tried to store inventory. 

“I had to just put stuff in rooms and close doors,” said Ramage. 

With prices ranging from $15 to $100-plus, Ramage said his store will mostly feature vintage street wear like t-shirts and sweatshirts as well as racks of more premium items like fur coats. 

“But everything is pretty affordable in my opinion … there’s nothing that I would consider outlandish,” said Ramage. “If it is a high price, it’s because it’s a designer name or something.” 

The Showroom is set to open this Sunday from 10 to 6 pm. There will also be a soft opening on Saturday for family and friends. More information is available here. 

Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.