Oldies but Goodies — Vintage Collectors Showcase Their Dream Closet in New Store

At their new Hell’s Kitchen boutique, two vintage clothing connoisseurs are paying homage to the stores they shopped in growing up.

For Peter Mauceri and Joshua Martinez, Hommage (306 W38th St bw 8/9th Ave) is a representation of their lives and personality through fashion, nestled in the heart of the Garment District. “If Peter and I shared a mansion together and we could just dream up a closet, that’s what it would be,” said Josh.

It’s their second vintage clothing store in the neighborhood. Building on their success at Vintage on 46, which opened two years ago in the Paramount Hotel, the duo decided to create a more elevated, highly curated selection of clothing.

The clothes date back to the 80s and 90s. They are color-coded and many come from the pair’s personal collections. The same applies to the baseball hat selection.

There are racks dedicated to band and music T-shirts, and to comics, TV shows and movies. The shirts are well-worn, and sized differently based on the era they’re from; “80s stuff ran a little bit more slim, and when you enter the mid 90s everything became baggy,” Peter explained.

Above the shelves are nostalgic items from New York City history and beyond — like a cardboard box from the iconic Pearl Paint art supply store ( shuttered in 2014 ) and a signed portrait of Keith Haring.

The best part is “seeing how excited someone gets when they get hit with that sense of nostalgia” from an article of clothing, Peter said. “People have stories: ‘Oh my brother had that jacket growing up.’ Or, ‘I went to this concert, I remember this.’ I think seeing people kind of geek out and nerd out the same way that we do about this stuff is the best part of what we do.”

Peter and Josh have been collecting vintage clothing for the past decade, and during the pandemic decided to turn their passion into a business.

For Josh, it all began when he was a child going to yard sales. “I love nothing more than going to a random thrift store and finding something really cool,” he said. Later, he remembers, after buying a Kurt Cobain T-shirt at a Target he went down a “rabbit hole of comic shirts and music shirts, and I just started buying, collecting, buying, selling … It snowballed to where we’re at now.”

“This is a one-year plan I didn’t really plan for,” he joked.

At Vintage on 46 (235 W46th St bw 7/8th Ave) the pair offer a larger selection, more like a thrift store, but Hommage is highly curated. It pays homage to “all the vintage stores that we used to love to go to,” said Josh. “If it wasn’t for all those stores, this store wouldn’t exist.”

“We’re collectors before we are sellers,” said Peter. “Everything here is hand-picked, one piece at a time.”

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