Karen Ponzio Photos
Vercillo and LaPiano.
Where does one find Snoopy keeping company with NSYNC and the Sweathogs? In Westville, and more specifically, at Lower Forms, the new vintage and resale clothing store located on 16 Fountain St.
The store celebrated its grand opening this past Saturday with an onslaught of happy shoppers combing through the racks for T‑shirts, jeans, and more.
Owner Adam LoPiano and manager/curator Matt Vercillo welcomed a steady stream of visitors who had learned about the opening through the Lower Forms active and popular Instagram account as well as the many flyers that had been posted throughout New Haven. The company has existed for years as a wholesale business in a warehouse on Ramsdell Street, which had not been open to the public, but there had plans in the works more recently to try something new and more accessible through retail.
Vercillo, who has been a buyer and a picker for the warehouse for years along with LoPiano, said they acquire their inventory “from all over.”
“We have to go out and find it,” he said. “That’s the fun part and the hard part.”
The store is carrying “primarily vintage” and “some secondhand as well, stuff that’s not quite 20 years old but we still think is neat,” Vercillo said. Clothing is the main attraction, but there are also a few accessories, such as hats and bags, available. Vercillo explained that Lower Forms is focusing on being accessible to all shoppers.
“We have something for everybody and a lot of price points,” he said. “The challenge is to fill the store with stuff that’s hyped and to still be cool and inexpensive.”
The storefront on 16 Fountain St.
Though the grand opening had been advertised as beginning at 3 p.m., Vercillo had been there since 11 a.m. “and people walked in, so we opened at 11,” he said with a laugh.
The clock barely got to 3 p.m. before customers came more steadily and searched more eagerly, many with arms full of clothing. The atmosphere was full of joy and wonder at the discoveries being made. Owner LoPiano spent a wealth of time greeting customers and spoke about the journey from warehouse to storefront.
The store right before 3 p.m.
“I’m in my 11th year of doing this,” he said, while noting with a smile that Vercillo was “the better buyer.”
“Our online and wholesale got really popular, and business was fairly robust so we said, ‘let’s give everyone a shot,’” he added. The warehouse will still function as it has, with LoPiano adding that “anything new comes here first” now. “We move thousands of pieces. If anybody comes here one month, they could come back the next month and see a huge turnover.”
When choosing inventory, LoPiano said they look at “everything” versus “tailoring the goods to our own interests,” though he said he has a penchant for “folk art and weird stuff. What I like is what the market doesn’t like,” he said with a laugh. He joked that much of what he likes ends up in the two Lucky Buckets located in the front of the store, where a selection of shirts are available at one for $7 or two for $10. Those buckets were hugely popular during the opening as shoppers dug for treasures at discounted prices.
The wall next to the front door
While some specific pieces were displayed on the wall to the left in the front of the store, and higher up on the walls over the racks throughout, the rest of the racks and rounders were stocked with shirts, both baseball style and short sleeved, sweatshirts, short and long-sleeved button-downs in polyester and flannel, pants, jeans, and jackets. A selection of dresses, skirts and shorts were also available.
The store around an hour later
The variety of clothing was more than enough to offer a plentiful supply of unique selections. The assortment of t‑shirts, especially the double racks lining nearly the entire left wall of the store, is stacked with a dizzying array of offerings. A concert t‑shirt from Paul Simon’s 1991 tour sits alongside a New Haven Bed Race shirt from 1985, while below a tie-dyed Jerry Garcia hangs next to an Oakmon Tennis Club tee and too many other varieties to mention.
Why did I not buy this shirt?
The other rounders and racks also offered a deluge of discoveries. Wranglers cords drape down next to a pair of well-loved tan Carhartts. A Loverboy 1982 Get Lucky Tour baseball tee swings with the St. Louis Cardinals 1985 NL East Division Champs. Also spotted: Neil Diamond circa 2007, a couple of Garth Brooks offerings, a variety of Disney and other cartoon-themed delights, and yes, an iconic steel blue Members Only jacket.
One could spend hours scanning the inventory, and many seemed to be having fun spotting something that brought back a memory, though it also seemed as though everyone who came in left with at least one item, if not an armful, Vercillo and LoPiano took turns at the register greeting and meeting their customers with endless smiles while also dealing with the empty hangers that kept accumulating behind the counter.
That ICP shirt found a home.
Back near the dressing room, Natasha Kuranko of New Canaan said she followed the business on Instagram and came today with “a general idea of what I wanted to manifest.” She ended up with a flannel button-down, a well-worn Cape Cod Crew sweatshirt, and a pair of jeans. Her friend Shaylin Giuliano of New Haven also knew of the business through Instagram and came “just for fun,” adding that when she lived in Brooklyn, there were many stores like this there, but “not so much here,” so she was “very excited” about this one opening. She ended up with an ICP shirt for her boyfriend, an Adobe baseball tee, a tank top with wolves and the saying “Forever Wild,” on it and a pink sweatshirt covered in teddy bears holding paint brushes. Another friend, Gillian Colbath of New Haven, said she had been friends with LoPiano for a long time and was “so proud of him. This has been a dream of his forever.” She ended up with a Realtree camo sweatshirt, a paisley button-down, a Champion sweatshirt vest, and a pair of jeans.
The friends also convinced me to buy the black and white rayon long-sleeved button-down covered in musical symbols that I had been eyeing, convincing me I had to have it and reminding me that if I did not get it, then it may not be there when I came back. Shopping as a collective and memorable community experience: something Lower Forms appeared to already be excelling at on its very first day.
Lower Forms, at 16 Fountain St., will be open Wednesday through Friday 12 to 7 p.m., Saturday 11 to 7 p.m., and Sunday 10 to 3 p.m. More information can be found on the store’s Instagram page @lowerforms.
Did someone say NEW HAVEN BED RACE???