Retro Retail in BKK

Market-saturated Bangkok is a vintage lover’s Mecca. Start out at the biggest and brightest in town, Chatuchak Weekend Market (Mo Chit Skytrain stations or Chatuchuk MRT station; weekends only, 10am-6pm) for items like vintage denim, re-worked clothing, second-hand books and decorative retro home wares and decorations.

 Other markets worth a trip include: Ratchada Night Bazaar (corner of Rachada and Lad Phrao Rd; Saturday only, 5pm-midnight) for vintage clothing, vinyl and antique toys; Talaat Wang Lang (Wang Lang, near Siraraj Pier; open daily) for clothing and accessories and Woeng Nakhon Kasem, or Thieves Market (Charoen Krung Rd; open daily) for Chinese and Thai antiques. 

 Plenty of standalone stores also specialise in vintage gear. Again & Again (Room B1a, Market Place, Soi 4, Sukhumvit Soi 55, Thonglor) is a divine boutique selling vintage pieces the designer has sourced from around the world. Other vintage fixtures in the city include It’s Happened to Be a Closet (266/3 Siam Square, Soi 3, Rama 1 Rd, itshappenedtobeacloser.wordpress.com), where fringed cocktail dresses, brightly coloured heels and cute crocket bed covers will all vie for your undivided attention.

 For a retro furniture and household-goods fix, go to Tuba (34 Soi 21, Sukhumvit Soi 63, Ekkamai, design-athome.com), which sells ‘60s sofas, ‘70s carpets and ‘80s curtains by day and cocktails, by way of morphing into a bar, by night. Its neighbour, Y50 (24 Soi 21, Sukhumvit Soi 63, Ekkamai), also doubles as a bar; test out funky chairs and Art Deco lamps over a few drinks while rubbing elbows with Bangkok’s artsy elite. 

 If you’d rather nourish your mind, Dasa Books (714/4 Sukhumvit Rd, dasabookcafe.com) has a great selection of second-hand tomes in various languages and states of repair. And last, but not least, head to Le Cafe Siam (4 Soi Sri Aksorn, Chua Ploeng Rd, lecafesiam.com) for food to quell your ravenous shopping-hungry stomach, this restaurant, set in a grand old colonial building, has many antiques and artworks for sale besides its fabulous food.