Home Store Is Fitzroy’s New House of Vintage Japanese Fashion

Behind Fitzroy Market, you’ll find an old industrial warehouse with a banner reading “Japanese vintage” hanging from its roller doors. You might miss it when you walk by; the graffiti-worn building has been sitting empty for three years. Now, it’s Home Store, a new retail space selling preloved and deadstock fashion from Tokyo. 

Fashion is in the foundations of the building. For years, it was Nobody Denim’s factory, denim laundry and headquarters (its co-founder John Condilis is Home Store’s landlord). “People are walking past and quite surprised to see this place all of a sudden has a bit of life. It’s quite sweet to see people’s reactions, walking in and going, ‘Wow!’” says Home Store co-founder Alex Turpin, who runs the business with his dad, Shaun Turpin, and stepmom, Yoko Sakai.

The 500-square-metre premises is huge, and only 30 per cent of its floor space is currently being used. The fit-out is unfussy and undone. There are clothes hanging on construction fences, room dividers made from sheer curtains and size labels made from masking tape. 

There’s a bootstrap energy to the place, complemented by decor pieces from Turpin’s own collection: a Klipsch speaker system, an upcycled Mickey Mouse vase-turned-lamp. Mismatched racks and tables are scattered throughout. 

Everything in Home Store is sourced directly from Japan, where Shaun and Yoko live. You’ll find a mix of designer brands, like Celine, Christian Dior and Burberry, as well as contemporary Japanese labels including A Bathing Ape, Hysteric Glamour, Needles and Beautiful People. There’s a range of sportswear, printed T-shirts and retro accessories. 

Shaun and Sakai have several suppliers. They source from Japanese second-hand chain Bookoff, and bid in blind auctions. “It’s the most crazy thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Shaun says. “You go to the third floor of a building; you see 500 boxes stacked. You have a leaflet saying, in Japanese, ‘This box will have Vivienne Westwood. This box will have Versace. This box will have Comme des Garcons’. You check through, and it might have one Vivienne Westwood piece, but the next box might have all Versace. Then you have to make a bid.”

Home Store’s selection isn’t defined by Americana, though a lot of vintage in Japan is. “To me, it’s pretty damn boring,” Shaun says.

Shaun started his career in the rag trade in 1984, selling clothes in London’s Camden Market. From there, he designed London tourist T-shirts, sold “granddad shirts” made in the Midlands, and eventually opened up his own shop, Passenger.

His sourcing trips took him to the US, where he bought American outdoor and workwear brands that hadn’t hit the UK yet. He bought cargo pants, Western gear, Carhartt workwear and baseball caps, reselling them back in England as streetwear. One of his later shops was called Home – Home Store pays tribute to this period.

Now 70 years old, Shaun has reconnected with his love of fashion through Home Store – this time with his son and partner by his side. “As a family, we’ve spent a long time living apart and having a phone relationship,” Alex says. “It’s quite nice to be together and doing this together as a family unit.”

Home Store

71 Leicester Street, Fitzroy

Hours

Tue to Fri 11am-5pm

Sat & Sun 10am-4pm

@home.store.melbourne