New vintage clothing store opens in Bloomington

There are over 1,000 buttons on the button wall. Full color, round pin back buttons with pictures of Spiderman, Albert Einstein, Gene Simmons with balloons painted on his face, phrases, symbols and countless other random images hang neatly in rows. The button wall is one of the many unique decorative motifs that give Phonebooth Clothing its vibrant and playful character. The owners make the buttons themselves, so each is unique. If you spend over $10 in the store, you can pick out a free button.\nPhonebooth Clothing is a newly opened vintage clothing store, located between Washington and Walnut streets on Sixth Street, in downtown Bloomington. It is owned and operated by junior Ben Bussell, 1998 graduate Mark Levenda and Bloomington residents Rick Olson and Jon Edwards. The four friends came up with the idea for the store a year ago. \nTheir goal is to make quality vintage clothes available to young people with student friendly prices, they said. \n"We don't want to be like the Salvation Army and Goodwill, which are so picked over around here," Levenda said. "But we don't want to be like the vintage stores where T-shirts are $20. We want to be a step between the Goodwill and upper-class stores."\nThe store contains racks of button-down shirts and knit polos, pants and skirts. A rainbow of T-shirts, carefully arranged by color, line the front display window. A small selection of old-school athletic and leather shoes and boots can be seen from the window, as well. Winter hats, baseball caps, scarves and ties hang from panels of chainlink fencing attached to the walls. More interesting finds include a bright-blue plastic faux alligator-skin raincoat, a zebra print mini-skirt and brown embroidered cowboy boots.\nMost items, including T-shirts and polo shirts, cost $5, with winter coats running about $15, and hats $2 to $3. They also run several specials. For example, if a customer buys four polos or four T-shirts, he gets one shirt free and four buttons for $5. \nSophomore Lauren Best purchased a T-shirt and a plaid skirt from the store. \n"I was browsing through the skirts and so many styles were represented," Best said. "This navy one looks like it could belong to my grandma, but the next three are just my style. I think it's great that I can get such cool clothing at a fair price." \nThe owners add a personal touch to every aspect of the store. They carefully pick out each piece of clothing and each accessory they sell. The foursome has been gathering merchandise since they came up with the idea for the store. The clothes come from a variety of sources -- thrift stores outside of Bloomington, garage sales, their friends, even their own closets. \n"We're all big shopaholics," Bussell said.\nIn addition to the neatly arranged merchandise, care has been taken creating the unique atmosphere in the store. A plastic record player belts out Samba music. Cartoon-like murals adorn the walls. The back room is wallpapered with blueprints and yellow pages from the phone book. The small dressing room has a Nintendo power pad for carpeting and a strand of blue, yellow and red monkey-in-a-barrel lights with red plastic monkeys hanging off of it. Bussell, an art major, plans to tile the ceiling with album covers that he has been collecting and place colored gels over the fluorescent lights.\nThe owner's continual good-humored conversation is peppered with business matters. Olson played with the Shortbus, a little orange and white cat that runs around the store, while an analysis of how well pants sold hung up as opposed to folded quickly turned into a comparison of what clothes the owners were wearing that particular day. \n"Have you noticed that since you are wearing that shirt we're opposite of each other?" Bussell laughed, wearing a white shirt and red baseball hat, pointing to Edwards who was wearing a red shirt and white hat.\nThey also have fun interacting with their customers. \n"I think it's so neat that the owners are relaxed and joke around with you," Best said. "They really add to the personality of the store." \nSome of the owners' favorite items include a pair of red long-johns pajamas, complete with a rear flap, a blue lab coat with "Steve" patched on the left-breast pocket, and a set of three pairs of pastel Reebok tennis shoes. \n"There's always something new here," Levenda said. "I mean, where else can you see the Pope, Ted Bundy and Danny Bonaduce in the same place?" \nBussell smiled in response, pointing to the button wall.