What a Goldmine!

In the words of Austin Power's Goldmember, 'I like gooooold...' I also like treasure and bargains galore so I was excited to attend the opening of Stokes Croft's very own Gold Mine. The brainchild of those clever Dutty Girls on Cheltenham Road, Goldmine is a pop-up vintage boutique that is taking over the old motorcycle show room on Stokes Croft for a couple of months.

The not-for-profit venture will see proceeds go towards fashion and music workshops for the women of Bristol. All the clothes and accessories are a uniform price, ranging between £8 for boots and up to £15 for jackets, which makes a nice change from the overpriced stock in many of Bristol's vintage emporiums.

For tonight's launch I took along partner-in-crime Amy B to see what all the fuss was about and, glass of wine in hand, raided the rails. There were some fab find including a couple tapestry bags and a Laura Ashley dress that I had my eye on, while Amy found a couple of long granny style printed skirts that looked great on her - being able to pull of an elasticated waist with aplomb is truly a gift!

The party was in full swing when we got there, with a female DJ on the decks and wine and beer being consumed like water outside. From the looks of things it was the male species that were outside drinking, while their female counterparts were inside looking for buried treasures. There were a couple of fashion-forward men checking out the menswear (limited but good quality) but most of the shoppers were after dresses, jewellery and everything else in between.

Although I came away empty handed (apart from a glass of white wine and a choccy biscuit) I was pleased to see a wide selection of vintage on offer at good price. Despite the urban edge in Shop Dutty there was a wide variety of styles and genres covered and I will definitely be popping back before Gold Mine closes its doors in October.

The Gold Mine will be open seven days a week until mid October so pop down and bag yourself a bargain. For more info check out their Facebook page.

There is plenty of room in this old motorcycle showroom

As the party went on into the night vintage lovers, and I suspect long suffering boyfriends, made a beeline for outside

I fell in love with this black sheep jumper but sadly it was a little too itchy for me!

Gorgeous leather boots of bargain bucket prices

Mmm... shotgun a jammy dodger!