You know that I'm a Bagaholic. Whenever I travel, I always try to find the best outlets and luxury consignment stores. Rome didn't become an exception.
I wondered if I can find good deals for Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior or YSL. I never tried to find out how much are the bags in European vintage stores so that was also an experiment.
Let me share the results and save your time.
1. Twice Vintage
Address: Via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 7
This is a small vintage thrift shop mostly focused on clothes. It's located in Trastevere which is not the most fashionable district. I was under the impression that it's a kind of biker's street as there were too many motorbikes parked on this street.
Speaking about handbags, I haven't seen any high-end brands and I guess Ferre was the top brand there. Prices were less than 200 euro.
If you're looking for luxury deals, I'd suggest skipping this location. I went there just as my apartment was nearby.
2. Second Chance
Address: Via Sardegna, 57, 00187, Roma
In a few days, I moved to another hotel close to Galleria Borghese and all the following destinations were very close to the hotel.
The neighborhood is astonishing, I highly recommend visiting it even if you're not into bags. It's a pleasure to walk down the streeks soaking up the sun and the views of the Rome city center.
Getting back to consignment stores, my next destination was Second Chance.
It's a small shop located in the center of Rome close to the Villa Borghese. The guys sell mostly bags and shoes. They had 3 Chanel flaps, 1 Hermes Kelly 40 and a few other bags but overall the choice was limited.
I was interested in this Vintage Chanel in caviar leather as I've seen one recently on local sites for about $600. This one was in 7/10 condition with rubbed corners.
I was astonished to hear that it was over 1200 EUR ($1350). This very moment I realized it doesn't make sense to ask about Chanel or Hermes prices. I left.
3. Lesley Luxury Vintage Rome
Address: Via Lombardia 38C, 00187, Roma
The shop window looked very promising.
Lesley Luxury offers quite a wide selection of bags and as always you need to dig a bit deeper for the best deals. The Louis Vuitton purses in their shop window seemed very expensive to me. White Mahina was 1.100 EUR, the silver bag was 1.200 EUR.
However, as soon as I explored the selection of bags inside, I realized the prices are not that crazy. There were several YSL Muse bags for 380 EUR, Gucci from 350 EUR.
These prices seemed adequate.
4. Lesley Luxury
Address: Via Vittoria, 27a, 00187, Roma
Lesley has 2 shops in Rome. In Google the previous one appeared as Lesley Luxury while this one was called Lesley Roma. I first thought that Lesley Luxury is a more high-end branch but they turned out to be exactly the same.
This store offers some Dior, Hermes and Louis Vuitton bags. About 30 bags overall.
I was shocked by the price of this Lady Dior in Large. I just sold one for $999 on this site. That baby was 2.391 EUR (over $2,500)! Even for a like-new Lady Dior that's quite expensive on the secondhand market. I understand their commission is at least 30% but come on people! Does anyone buy them at such a price?
Conclusion
I didn't buy anything and I'm a bit disappointed. I expected much more from the capital of Italy. I miss Japan and Tokyo cause you can see hundreds of luxury bags. Rome isn't a magnificent place where you'll find purse peace.
However, it's another story. Someday I'll write an article about Japanese stores.
