April 2025

We Know Your Favorite Tees…Now, Get To Know Our Team Through Theirs!

This month, I wanted to do something a little more personal. Having just wrapped up our annual Vyntage March Madness tee tournament, we learned a lot about your favorites. So I thought, maybe I’d share my favorite Local Vytnage tees with you. But as I started to write this, I thought it’d be so cool to include our whole team's favorites! Some of us have favorites because we remember them, while others have favorites because of the stories we were told growing up. Some of us have other reasons for our favorites, but I don’t want to spoil anything! So without further ado, we asked our team: “What’s your favorite LV tee?”, and this is what they said…

I grew up in Agawam, MA, so of course my favorite tee is the blue Riverside Park shirt! My family visited the park a couple of times while it was still called Riverside, and I've even ridden the Thunderbolt. The hulking silhouette of the rollercoaster pictured on the shirt has always been a landmark in town, and as a member of the high school cross country team it brings back good memories of some of our longest runs passing by the park.

       Ryan - Developer

       Hometown: Agawam, MA

I think my favorite tee has to be Strawberries, specifically the dark gray color! I was drawn to this design from my first day of working in the Local Vyntage retail shop two years ago mainly because I love records and older music stores. I actually have one of the Strawberries shirts, and when I brought it home my dad recognized it and was telling me all about how he used to shop there. I’ve also had many people stop to talk to me about Strawberries when I wear the shirt out, which is really sweet! I also just really enjoy the design of the shirt itself, with the swirly lettering mimicking strawberry vines and the two little strawberries underneath.

       Nora - Designer

       Hometown: Jamaica Plain, MA

My favorite tee is definitely Old Man of the Mountain. Growing up, my dad would always talk about the Old Man of the Mountain rock formation in North Conway, where he grew up. Visiting the White Mountains was a huge part of my childhood because of my dad and the stories he told. I love how the design pays homage to something I grew up with!

       Lucy - Shop Associate

My favorite tee is Peaches. As the designer of this tee graphic, a lot of love went into it and the end result was so worth it! It was my mom's favorite record store as well! Runner up tee has got to be Farmer Jack. Having grown up in metro Detroit it brings back the best memories.

       Kat - Designer

       Hometown: Novi, MI

Maryland is for Crabs is my favorite tee. My family loves seafood, but can't always get it fresh in an inland state. Whenever on the coast we always seek out a nice seafood dinner, which is usually the highlight of the trip. Crab, specifically, is my favorite type and I think it's fun to have a representation of something I love that I can wear around. I especially find the wording fun - of course Maryland is renowned for its delicious blue crabs, but it might also be home to some crabby folks (like everywhere else).

       Lane - Shop Associate

       Hometown: Rochester, MI

My favorite tee has to be Caldor. My parents used to shop there, and when I started working here, I got my dad one. That was two years ago, and he still wears it all the time!

       Maddie - Shop Associate

       Hometown: Barrington, RI

My favorite tee is Two Guys. I gave this to my father last year as a birthday gift and he has not taken it off since, it’s his absolute favorite t-shirt! Every time I see the design it makes me think of him and it’s always nice to have a reminder of home when you’re far away at college.

       Aidan - Shop Associate

       Hometown: Brick, NJ

My favorite tee design is WBCN. I’m a big fan of the design and how you can wear it casually while running errands or hanging out with friends. My personal connection to the design is that I’m a huge fan of the radio—specifically rock stations. I love classic rock and alternative music, and even though WBCN was before my time, it’s a cool design to have on a tee.

       Jose - Shop Manager

       Hometown: New York, NY

Out of all of our tees, my favorite has to be G. Fox & Co. Both my grandmother and great-grandmother worked at the downtown Hartford flagship. Last Christmas, I gifted one to my grandmother, and a few months later received this text:

“I just had to write to tell you how much fun I am having with the G. Fox and Co. t-shirt. I don’t know if you remember hearing that I often refer to Macy’s as G. Fox when I am talking to people. Apparently I am not alone. It always brings a great chuckle. Thank you.”

I love that our shirts can bring back these memories for our customers and help them connect with others.

       Danielle - Shop Manager

       Hometown: South Kingstown, RI

Over the past few years of working at LV I’ve found myself drawn to a lot of our record store tees. Obviously Strawberries is a classic - it’s one of our most popular designs for a reason - and you can’t ignore the multiple Turtle’s designs in various colors. However, I am a strong supporter of the blue and orange color combination, and I love the way it looks on our Peaches tees. I have one myself and it’s one of my favorite shirts! Peaches has some tough competition with some of the new designs we’ve been getting in, though. They look stellar and I can’t wait to ship them out!

       Megan - Shop Manager

       Hometown: Boston, MA

Tough one, I love so many of the tees we offer. But if I had to choose just one, I’d pick Hartford Civic Center as my favorite due to the personal connection I had with “the mall.” I grew up in central CT, a little south of Hartford. Downtown Hartford always felt like a magical place to visit as a little kid, as interesting/weird as that sounds to say as an adult. That was especially the case around the holidays, with the lights at Constitution Plaza lights and the G. Fox Christmas display. Most of our family trips downtown were to events at the Civic Center. From UConn games, to the circus, to the Whalers. Believe it or not, from the mid-70s to mid-90s, the Boston Celtics used to play some home games at the Hartford Civic Center, making it their “home-away-from-home.” That provided me the incredible opportunity to watch Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale play in Hartford! The signs on I-91 guided us to the exit for downtown Hartford, then the directional signs from there, complete with the Civic Center logo on them. Finally, the big illuminated Hartford Civic Center sign at the corner of Asylum and Trumbull let us know we’d be parking soon. The logo is burned into my brain, but it’s also just a great/clever design. We offer it with the original red-orange-yellow color palette, but we also made a green-blue-white variation to pay tribute to the Whalers years. Can anyone else still hear the Brass Bonanza in their heads? I’m hearing the horns right now.

       Chet - Owner

       Hometown: Berlin, CT

My favorite tee is the Houston Aeros! I am a bit hockey obsessed and growing up in Houston, the AHL team was our only local professional team. But go Stars, of course! While I never made it to The Summit while it was still home to the Aeros and the Rockets (pre-2013), I’ve been since and driven past it a bunch of times. Bonus: my dad is a pilot, and the B-23 in the logo is pretty cool! I gave him this tee for Christmas a few years back, and have it myself, and we both wear them with pride!

       Maddy - Communications

       Hometown: Houston, TX

Were you surprised by any of our favorites? I know I was when I read some of these the first time! Hopefully you feel a little closer to all of us here at Local Vyntage. We have quite a diverse group, who grew up in different decades across many different states. We also grew up and live in your local areas and are a part of your community. That’s part of the fun of what we do, and why our apparel makes such great gifts! Ordering with us is truly a local experience. Nostalgia like ours crosses generations and brings us all closer together.

      - Maddy

 

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