In the United States, the Web site does a brisk business in costume party wear like wigs and go-go boots, she added. They’re paying more in shipping than they are for the item, but they can’t get them there." "In England, a hot item is bubble umbrellas. I ship T-shirts, earrings and vintage sunglasses," she said. "Two weeks ago, I shipped to Denmark, Japan, Israel and England. It’s basically the same stuff as in the store, but I ship all over the world." "I didn’t expect it to mushroom like it did. "I originally developed the Web site to let locals know what was in the store," she said. To better serve local customers, Ciullo started a Web site about three years ago, and has garnered the store an international clientele as well. In addition to authentic vintage clothing, much of the store’s inventory falls into the category of "new old," which Ciullo explained is dated but never-used merchandise gleaned from old warehouse overstocks. My thing is the ’60s stuff that was my childhood." "People shopping here were kids in the ’80s," she noted. I opened in ’85, so to me the ’70s weren’t that old. When I opened, I didn’t carry any ’70s stuff. "Vintage is about 20 years old," she explained, "so we’ve finally started heading into the ’80s. "I’m going into the ’80s now, and that’s scary," she observed, "I have now caught up with merchandise that was current when I opened the store. I’m covering about 100 years now, the 1880s to the 1980s," said Ciullo, noting that the some of the oldest items for sale at Backward Glances are an 1880s jacket, a 1910 camisole and a 1900 ladies jacket. "The number of decades I’m covering has gotten wider.
"I had a knack for finding them, and I hated passing up things that didn’t fit me," explained Ciullo, whose retail background stems from her parents’ retail store in South Plainfield.īy the time the store celebrated its 16th year in Red Bank, Ciullo found that her inventory spanned an entire century.
The late ’80s were not good to Red Bank, but I stuck it out."Ĭiullo’s interest in vintage clothing became evident in college when she realized she had a talent for turning up second-hand clothing with cachet. "Within the next couple of years, it went down. "At that point, Red Bank was pretty full," she recalled. I said to myself, ‘This could work.’"īackward Glances opened the weekend after Thanksgiving in 1985. I talked to high school students and they were excited to hear about the store. There were kids walking around the streets. I remember this.’ I want to bring them back to their childhood," she added.Īfter spending several months looking for a location for a vintage store in north Jersey, Ciullo saw an ad for a spot in Red Bank, came to take a look and stayed. "I want people to say, ‘Wow, what a fun place. "I like to try to make it fun for people that’s why I hang old advertising signs and pinball games," she said. The vintage jukebox, lifesize cutout of a 1940s pinup girl and the perennial Elvis likenesses have made the move to the new shop, which features bright colors and wider aisles for easier display and shopping. "A lot of band members come in here - ranging from local to national - for stuff to wear on stage," she said. According to Ciullo, customers also include local theater companies, video and indie film productions and local celebs. Vintage clothes have a way of taking you back in time," explained the owner of vintage shop Backward Glances, which recently relocated to Red Bank’s main street.Īfter 16 years on Monmouth Street, Ciullo’s landlord sold the building in which the vintage clothing, retro gifts and accessories store was located, and Backward Glances moved to 43 Broad St., where a grand reopening celebration will be held next weekend.ĭespite the move, Backward Glances retains the same quirky, generation-spanning personality that appeals to a customer base ranging from grandparents to their teen-age progeny. What do saddle shoes, disco boots and Care Bear T-shirts have in common? They represent the "good old days" for folks whose childhood coincided with the decades of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, according to Cindy Wolfson Ciullo. JERRY WOLKOWITZ Cindy Wolfson Ciullo, owner of Backward Glances, shows off samples of clothing and merchandise available at her Red Bank store. Following the hot trends back to the ’80s
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