Travel Thru Time Vintage Shop Proves Hoarding Can Be Healthy

Travel Thru Time vintage shop, where "hoarding" isn't a dirty word.

If you've ever scrolled your remote buttons past that A&E show Hoarders, you know just how amazingly addicting it can be. Watching the show, that is. Rotting pumpkins, cat feces, refrigerator science experiments -- we've seen it all and somehow not managed to vomit, or pry our eyes from the screen.

Going to a hoedown? Buy this hot little number!

​But did you know that in some cases hoarding can be good for you?

Take Corinne, owner of Travel Thru Time vintage shop on the corner of Fifteenth Avenue. and Thomas Road in Phoenix. In her travels, she's amassed one of the largest and most stunning collections of vintage dresses, leisure suits and square dance outfits we've ever seen.

Though some of the items in her shop were intentionally bought for resale or sourced by friends, Corinne admits to once wearing many of the disco dresses and frilly petticoats that now adorn Travel Thru Time's racks. That was back in her heyday, when she danced with a male partner she briefly mentions on the phone as having been about "six feet tall and 300 pounds."

A rack of squares.

​

Corinne comes across as a little scattered, as she desperately tries to find some curtain hooks she started hanging yesterday. But ask her the price of anything in the store, or where ​she got it, and she'll come back with a lightning quick response. "That's $38," she says, as I eye a square dance outfit that needs a little mending. A polka-dotted blouse and skirt set in much better condition goes for over $100 -- exactly what she paid for it, Corinne notes.

​Clothing is arranged by style, length and color, because vintage clothes don't always have sizes. And even if there is a label, it doesn't necessarily equate to today's sizes. "I grew up when the smallest size was a 10, and that was about a twenty-inch waist," quips Corinne. In modern sportswear, that would be smaller than a size zero. Eek!

Among our favorite finds were real Hollywood furs (before PETA screamed fur was murder, natch), a couple of Bakelite/plastic purses, strings of pearls and a rack of over-the-top '80s sequined pantsuits with shoulder pads. Ah, those were the days.

Tchotchkes for the salt-and-pepper crowd.

​In addition to dresses and dancewear, Travel Thru Time offers a wide range of vintage costume jewelry, porcelain knickknacks, glassware and popular collectibles like cookie jars, bells and salt-and-pepper shakers.

And if you don't see something you need, just ask Corinne. "This is only a percentage of my collection," she says. "I've got even more."  

Travel Thru Time is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 602-274-0666.