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Johnny Petrozzini Makes Style Look Easy At Speakeasy Vintage

Owner has a way with interiors

 

"I like to be surrounded by certain kinds of stuff,” says Johnny Petrozzino from the epicenter of said stuff. The Bloomfield native (and resident) partnered with his brother Frankie a little over a year ago and opened Speakeasy Vintage, a vintage clothing boutique on Bloomfield Avenue in downtown Montclair that is nothing short of magical.

The space itself is theatrical, looking like the wardrobe wing from MadMen. All of that is intentional, as Petrozzino has a deep affinity for old movies and had even pursued acting for a while.  “I was in an independent film in 2002.  It was called Bloodlines.  I don’t think anyone ever saw it.”

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“We’re on the second floor here, so it’s a little more of a challenge to get people in, but once they do, you can see on their faces, it’s like they just discovered a secret,” he says. 

Petrozzino has a gift for creating environments that evoke certain feelings; it seems to be activity that he cannot help but participate in. 

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He describes himself as creative and acknowledges his flair for interiors, but Petrozzino’s style goes beyond creating something visually interesting – he transforms spaces into places people want to be. 

“I’ve always been drawn to old things,” says Petrozzino, one of four brothers who grew up in a two-family house that was shared with his grandparents, uncle and great uncle.  “Even in the sixties, when my mother had her friends over for a coffee klatch, I would be in the next room listening to music from the forties.  My mother used to say, ‘I don’t know what it is with this one; he loves old things.’”

Petrozzino spent much of his career as a hair stylist, although he did own a clothing store – The Fashion Statement – on Broad Street in Bloomfield from 1986 to ‘89.  After he sold it, he was asked to help with the design of a friend’s hair salon.  “My friend said to me, ‘You should open a hair studio’ and I said ‘What do I know about hair?’” Petrozzino says.  He went to beauty school, became licensed and opened a salon in downtown Montclair. 

“I had the salon for a long time – we opened in the mid-nineties, when it was hard to get businesses going in the area.  People would come in to get their hair cut, but other people just came in to see what I’d done to the place,” he says, referring to the interior renovation he calls GothVic, a combination of Gothic and Victorian.  “It was like part cathedral and part castle.”

People would just come to hang out, says Petrozzino, “or sometimes I would take out my guitar and play music at the end of the night.”  Music and hanging out are a recurring motif in Petrozzino’s life, as he he’s moved a piano in to serve as part of Speakeasy’s décor and also has a “dressing area” that is easily turned into a stage for impromptu musical events that the store hosts every couple of months.

“Growing up, my house was not the biggest or the fanciest, but all the kids wanted to hang out there,” he says.  “We would have little Italian parties all the time and there was always music around.  My parents liked Sinatra and Tony Bennett and jazz.  I guess in some ways I try to recreate those feelings.”

That is certainly the vibe that’s been created in Speakeasy Vintage, which is both visually stunning as well as a paean to eras gone by.  Music is played on a 40’s console in the back of the store, hatboxes serve as shoe display pedestals, and the space is open and inviting for both shopping and perusal.

Without any formal advertising or promotion, the store has found its way into TV and theatre wardrobe designer’s contact lists, fashion blogs and is even featured in an online commercial for Mini Coopers.

“I didn’t recognize them at first when they came in,” Petrozzino admits of his visit from style icons and fashion insiders Anouck Lepere, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Natalie Joos, who popped in one day with a camera crew, “although I knew they were famous.”

Perhaps Petrozzino’s greatest gift, is his ability to make bygone apparel and accessories seem current and accessible to everyone.  “My customers range in age from ten to 80,” he says, adding that there are always things he learns from his older clientele.  “Women buy things for work, teenagers buy things to look cool.  We’ve sold more spring and summer apparel and lingerie recently than we sold in the spring and the summer.” 

Speakeasy Vintage’s fare hails from the 1920’s to the 1980’s. The selection changes regularly and all items are one-of-a-kind.  Prices are reasonable (you can find sweters for $25, faux-fur collared coats for $150) and merchandise in non-returnable.  The store is open Wednesday through Friday from noon(ish) to 8PM, Saturday from 11AM to 8PM and Sunday from 11AM to 7PM. 

They are located on the second floor at 465 Bloomfield Ave (right above Johari) and you need to ring the bell in the vestibule to get buzzed in, just like a – well – speakeasy.

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