A Sydney love affair...

With my carry on luggage packed to the brim, (I may even have snuck more of my stuff into the unbeknown BF's bags), we jet-setted to the bright lights of Sydney for five days of fun, relaxation and of course, gran's loose change-ing.

To make you all incredibly jealous (and to keep the memories alive before post-holiday depression well and truly sets in), we managed to eat our way through Sydney - Mexican, Indian, Japanese, frozen yoghurt to die for, Italian, Modern Australian and more - walk our way through Sydney - Surry Hills, Bondi, Paddington, Kings Cross, Potts Point, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, Darlinghurst - shop our way through our savings, catch up with friends and act like tourists - Sydney Museum and the Aquarium. It was a wonderful five days spent with people I love and making memories to last a lifetime.

All of that aside, I spent a great deal doing research. Very serious research along a strip called Crown St where I popped into shops that had the most delightful furs (see here) leathers (read about it here) and booties (become a fan here). I could have spent hours on end just looking, touching, trying. These stores are part of the inspiration for gran's loose change. When I lived in Sydney, I spent hours sifting through the racks, trying to squeeze my feet into too small but must have boots and pretending I could afford the most exquisite vintage furs.

Something that is very important to me is keeping gran's loose change humble. The prices are realistic. I am not sourcing stock for a dime and selling it for a mint. In fact, I am barely scraping by - but it's early days and there is much to learn and even more to grow. The average price in these stores was about $80. Boots sold for nothing less than $65 AUD, leathers $75 AUD and furs $120 AUD.

I expected to come home with bulging bags full of stock, but in reality, some of the best vintage I have found, comes from right here. On our doorstep. So rest assured, I do my best to bring you as much variety as I can, but there's only so much I can do, source and afford while gran's loose change is the growing baby that she is.

In comparison to the Sydney stores, she is minute. Tiny. But these are long established, well followed and sought after. But they are also comparatively expensive. So while I came home minus the bags of second hand goodness for gran's loose change, I came home with an open mind, the backing that what we are doing is very much serving our customers, and that we are on par with these long-standing stores with a much bigger clientele behind them.

We managed to squeeze in a rural shop here in New Zealand and I am excited to launch the new stock this weekend. Thanks for your support, thanks for following us, and tell your friends, well priced, hand-selected second hand and vintage can be found nowhere better than right here, gran's loose change