DC Travel Guide  |  Shopping

Modcloth, the Online Haven for Fans of Vintage-Inspired Apparel, Opens a Storefront Today on U Street

The entrance to of ModCloth's new store in The Shay. Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.

ModCloth, the online retailer known for its playful and vintage-inspired clothing, accessories, and home goods is entering the DC market with a new brick-and-mortar showroom opening Friday, August 10. Nestled on a bustling corner across from the 801 Restaurant & Bar and near Bonobos on U Street, the new ModCloth ‘FitShop’ beckons shoppers with a statement-making millennial pink entryway in the ground-level floor of The Shay and a streamlined new way of shopping.

Shoppers who wish to walk out of the store wearing their new Mary Jane heels or quirkily-patterned blazer are out of luck— the store won’t carry any onsite inventory. Instead, customers will choose from a range of sample pieces—sizes run from XXS to 4X—to try on in-store. On hand stylists will assist customers in finding pieces that fit their shape and style, and shoppers can then use that information to order items from the website at a sleek, concierge-like desk station. Any purchased items are then shipped to customer’s homes free of charge.

Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.

A whole host of planned activities—including live music, gifts with purchase, and drawings to win merchandise—kicks off the opening weekend, running from August 10-12. The DC ModCloth location will also feature a rotating marketplace of goods created by local area artisans, such as candles from Frères Branchiauxenamel pins from Shiny Apple Studio and jewelry by Heorth. Beyond the marketplace of local inventory, which you can shop onsite, customers will also be able to browse racks of vintage clothes and accessories available for immediate purchase.

This is the third of five ModCloth brick-and-morter locations slated to open this year. Two locations are already open—one in Austin and one in San Francisco—and Los Angeles and New York storefronts are on the way. 

Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Shoppers will compile lists of clothes to try on and order using these clipboards. Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Shoppers will compile lists of clothes to try on and order using these clipboards. Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.
Photograph by Tori Watson Photography, courtesy of ModCloth.

ModCloth: 1924 8th Street NW, Suite #130202-804-5589; Open Monday through Saturday from 10 AM —7 PM and Sunday from 11 AM—7 PM.

 

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Helen joined Washingtonian in January 2018. She studied Journalism and International Relations at the University of Southern California. She recently won an Online News Award for her work on a project about the effects of the Salton Sea, California’s greatest burgeoning environmental disaster, on a Native American tribe whose ancestral lands are on its shores. Before joining the magazine, Helen worked in Memphis covering education for Chalkbeat. Her work has appeared in USA Today, The Desert Sun, Chalkbeat Tennessee, Sunset Magazine, Indiewire, and others.