Sunday, 17 April 2011

Good Times, Barcelona





This weekend I visited the Good Times shop on Carrer Petritxol. This street is one of my favourites in Barcelona, leading from the Plaça del Pi to Carrer de la Portaferrissa in the Barri Gotic. It’s a narrow street of 17th and 18th century buildings, which are decorated with tiles depicting the businesses and trades that have flourished along this thoroughfare. Traditionally it’s been the home of craftspeople and artisans, and continues this today as well as having the excellent gallery Sala Parés which is currently exhibiting the work of Alejandro Quincoces, a Basque artist whose work I really like. 






I first heard about the Good Times shop through their group on Facebook. I was immediately drawn by the fact that their aim is to provide innovative and flattering clothes for women of all ages, and their philosophy that there is an affordable alternative to shopping in the big chains. Right up my street, in other words. The owners are Boyd Baten and Mina Manrubia, who also design everything in the shop.






The shop itself is very pretty, with every available space covered in lovely items. I like the maximal approach to decoration myself, so this gets top marks from me. His Nibs was very taken with the art nouveau style furniture which is hand  painted and lacquered and also designed by the Good Times guys themselves. You can buy the furniture also, so I think I have an idea what a certain someone may get for a future birthday if he plays his cards right.






As for the clothes themselves, there are so many items in here that I want to buy. I can’t decide if my favourites are the wrap dresses which have a real retro 40s feel, or the dresses made from old silk sarees. Decisions, decisions. That’s before we even start to look at the polka dot blouses, pin-up dresses and vintage inspired clutch bags. I can tell this place is going to be dangerous for me…






There are two branches of Good Times in Barcelona, the above in El Gotic and the second in Raval. The other good news is that if you can’t get here, you can still indulge by visiting their online shop and Etsy store. I think the prices are more than reasonable considering that you won’t see lots of people wearing the same outfit as you, not to mention the lovely fabrics they use. 






By the way, make sure that any domestic goddesses among you check out the adorable retro aprons, almost enough to get me cooking and baking just to wear one (almost, let’s not get carried away).





6 comments:

Sensible Footwear said...

Great name for a shop! Always nice to find somewhere selling affordable and individual clothes.

And thank you too for the introduction to Alejandro Quincoces.

YvonneSedition said...

You're welcome! His paintings are beautiful, aren't they?

doradadama said...

Gracias por tu visita amor.
que bonito is Barcelona, un dia quiero visitar.

YvonneSedition said...

Gracias por tu visita también. Siempre me gusta tu blog. Barcelona es muy bonita, tiene que visitar!

mispapelicos said...

Hello Yvonne, I know Barcelona well. I lived there for a while and loved it very much.
Thank you for your lovely comment and for finding me, so I can find you back.
Following you,now.
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YvonneSedition said...

Hola sacramento! Gracias por tu visita! xx