Dobbin Street Outpost Is Your New Vintage Furniture Destination in Bushwick

Bethany Radcliff

@bethanycaye

Bushwick does not lack quality shops where you can get your fix of used and unique vintage goods. We have Mes Que Un Vintage, the meandering Bushwick Flea, and now we’re welcoming Dobbin Street Vintage to the fold.

The new shop is just a few blocks from the Morgan Avenue L, but if its name already sounds familiar, you’re on to something. Bushwick’s Dobbin Street location is a transplant—the second location of a store that first opened in Greenpoint. To make it less confusing, they’re calling the new location The Dobbin Street Vintage Outpost.

The entire Dobbin Street endeavor is in fact a functioning cooperative business. “We’re an actual co-op, so there’s six of us now and so we all are owners—we’re all co-owners and operators,” Courtney Wagner, one of six co-op owners, tells Bushwick Daily.

But,it wasn’t always this way. The original five members met a few years ago at the Brooklyn Flea, where they all rented booths for their individual vintage businesses. When the Flea moved from its original location to Industry City, the five banded together.

“We just didn’t love it over there and…we weren’t doing that well because it was a weird neighborhood for the flea,” Wagner says.

So the group decided it was time to take a leap—and open their own brick-and-mortar storefront. They found a location in Greenpoint that was perfect for their collections, and between the five owners they were paying the same amount they had been paying to rent booths at the Brooklyn Flea.

“We kind of pooled our resources and paid for the security deposit and just opened the doors,” Wagner says.

The co-op’s expansion to Bushwick is a natural progression. Many of their Greenpoint customers live in the Bushwick area, so they know the interest is here, too. “We do a lot of deliveries in Bushwick,” Wagner says. “So we were like, ‘Oh, maybe we should be over there.’”

Though the store sells all things vintage, a big specialty is furniture. Wagner thinks this will really add to Bushwick’s vintage scene. In fact, the co-op brought in a new, sixth owner with the expansion, who also specializes in furniture.

Customers can expect to find a spacious store filled to the brim with unique vintage pieces. And there will always be something new because new pieces are added on an almost-daily basis.

As for the shop’s vibes, they’re quite dreamy. “We have a very boho, like jungalow-style vibe. There’s all kinds of rattan and plants always here,” Wagner said.

It’s true—everywhere you look, there’s another piece of furniture or a rack of vintage clothing tucked away in a cozy corner. Macrame hangings dot the ceiling. And there are plenty of plants—plus more in the shop’s spacious back porch and garden!

They do a lot of more affordable midcentury vintage pieces, which is something usually hard to come by at a reasonable price tag. “We’re more affordable than the people that specialize fully in midcentury,” Wagner adds.

Since opening last Thursday, June 15, the shop has been received warmly. Wagner said nearby Morgan-area shop and bar owners have popped in to say hello, and everyone that’s come in has been very excited about the shop.

“It’s a nice mix of people that don’t know who we are and people that have been to the Greenpoint store and live over here and decided they don’t have to travel as far,” Wagner says.

So stop by and welcome the Dobbin Street Outpost to our neighborhood, and maybe pick up a cool vintage tchotchke while you’re at it. Keep an eye on Dobbin Street’s Instagram page, where they will announce the date for their Grand opening bash, which may include a garden barbecue!

Main photo by Joey Meyers. Additional photography by Bethany Radcliff for Bushwick Daily.