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Vintage fashions and
remnants of Another Time A visit to Another Time, a unique shop located at 3096 Main Street in Caledonia, is like going through the collection of wares stored in your grandparent’s attic. Time stamped fashions, delicately detailed linens and boxes from the area’s finest stores that once attracted only the most discriminating customers, all attractively displayed in a building at least a century older than the items inside it. Another Time is just that – a collection of vintage fashions, costumed jewelry, textiles and more that will take you back to another time. The shop is located in a circa 1850’s fieldstone and wood building that was originally a meat market, a blacksmith and a carriage shop. The original fieldstone wall remains on the west side of the shop that is more commonly recalled by locals as the Keith Press, publishers of the Caledonia Advertiser until it closed in 1989. The building itself transcends time and appropriately displays the five-and-ten style glass case of period costume jewelry. Along the other side of the room are wood shelves lined with elegant vintage glass pieces and finely detailed linens. The original wood shutters taken off of the front of the building are used to display vintage earrings and the wire mesh against the fieldstone wall used to display other pieces is said to be the foundation of the handyman’s bed found upstairs in the former carriage shop. The real fairy tale begins when you enter the back room of Another Time where decade old poised mannequins outfitted in the smart styles of bygone eras summon you to step inside. Each one is completely coordinated with matching jewelry, hat, gloves, hosiery and shoes; everything one would need to wear to be called a well-dressed woman of her time. Customers will find rack upon rack of women’s fashions including housedresses, special occasion styles and casual weekend wear. Many of the fashions can be worn today. Hat boxes and rectangular boxes from popular Rochester, Batavia and Buffalo department stores, vintage 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, line the shelves at the top of the wall. If you grew up in the Rochester area, you will no doubt recognize the popular Sibley’s department store logo on the box. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to have visited the downtown Rochester Sibley’s at Christmas time to view the magical decorations. If so, this box will be of special sentimental value to you. Boyce says she wants the shop to be a fun place to visit. A group of sisters visited on a recent Saturday morning and like little girls playing dress up, they tried on several styles of hats – sequined, feathered and beaded. One of them said she purchased a velvet jacket at Another Time that she wore to a special occasion in New York City. Boyce has always loved old costume jewelry since she was a young girl but became fascinated with women’s fashion about 30 years ago. Her expertise is often called on for consultations in estate sales or when someone cleans out an attic. Sometimes people are surprised to find out that just because something is old, it doesn’t make it valuable. "They want me to tell them what to keep and what can go," she explained. "That depends on many things, for example what part does this piece play in history. The study of fashion history connects you with every other part of history; cultural, political, societal and religious," she explained. Whether you are a collector of vintage fashions or a novice, there is something at Another Time that you will recognize, something that sparks a fond memory or has sentimental value. It’s worth the trip to Main Street, Caledonia, to visit the shop that is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and as Boyce puts it, "by chance on Monday and Tuesday."
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