FOR UPTOWN CASTOFFS

HOUSING WORKS 2569 Broadway; housingworks.org

→ THERE ARE TEN Housing Works thrift shops in the city, and clothing designer Batsheva Hay says the outpost at 96th Street and Broadway is the least trafficked—and, therefore, the most bountiful. “Like any of these multilocation chains, it’s a different store depending on where it is,” says Hay, pointing out that each Housing Works reflects the history of its neighbors. On the UWS, near Hay’s apartment, that means “people who are involved in the arts and have all sorts of taste, whether they’re an opera singer or a professor” and “items owners have collected and loved but no longer use,” like a wool-crêpe Valentino couture suit that Hay bought for $45 and a vintage embroidered silk Lanvin robe she found for $50. “No one shopping there is competing with you,” Hay says. “It’s not in a cool neighborhood, so some local woman’s amazing vintage Sonia Rykiel blazer or Blumarine dress just sits there.”