Aunt and niece duo Nancy and Mollie Alamia, residents of East Moriches and Southampton, have been dreaming of opening a store that would satisfy their shared passion for offering sustainably sourced vintage items for years. And just last month, that dream finally came true.
“I think we both had a passion for eclectic items and for vintage items,” Nancy Alamia said. “We’ve been talking about it for a while.”
From vintage clothing including denim jackets, vintage sports team and college apparel, dresses, crotched blankets and gifts like records, pins and patches and furniture, Eastport Retro, located right next to the Eastport General Store, has something for everyone.
“I just felt as if this community needed something like this where more locals can shop, where the price point is right for everyone…there’s something for everyone here,” says Mollie.
Proud to provide a unique vintage clothing selection to the community, “we love the history of Eastport and the fact that it was always an antiquing town but there was never a clothing aspect to the antiquing,” Nancy notes. “Some of the shops have little sections, but we thought it would be just a really good fit for the community and the history of the community.”
The pair does, “a mixture of everything,” when it comes to sourcing their unique products, according to Mollie, with pieces hand-selected by the pair. “We do house clean outs, estate sales, auctions. We source all over the country, either when we’re traveling or at our family’s second home upstate.”
The vintage thread woven through the products in their store and the clothing that they offer their patrons was a very conscious decision.
“I think that there is already enough clothing produced in the world to clothe us for generations to come,” Nancy says. “I think that recycling and reusing, and the quality of the fabrics of the past and just the interesting fabrics and textures and the beauty of all of those things is kind of why we decided to go in that vein.”
The business also looks to give back to the community through a partnership with Hudson’s Helping Hands, the nonprofit organization started in 2020 to provide programs, events and support for austism from Montauk to Manorville. A portion of all of Eastport Retro’s sales will go to the nonprofit.
“We are all about upcycling and repurposing,” Mollie Alamia added. “A lot of the pieces that we put in here, we already kind of thought of what we can do with them if they don’t sell in a few months or in a year, we want to be able to repurpose everything in the store.”
They accept donations of men’s and women’s clothing and accessories from their patrons and the community. For anyone interested in donating after cleaning out the closet and collecting the donations, direct message @EastportRetro on Instagram with the number of bags being left for pick up and an address and place them on the front porch for pickup on a Monday.
Their products are also available on Instagram shop @EastportRetro.
Eastport Retro is located on 510 Montauk Highway, Eastport. Open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m..
