Thong Shopping in NYC?

posted by: BrooklynLycra

posted by: Bubblebum

posted by: slicktool9

posted by: Bubblebum

posted by: slicktool9

posted by: Bubblebum

posted by: slicktool9

posted by: Bubblebum

posted by: O2BnSF

posted by: Bubblebum

Guys, is there any good in-person thong shopping to be had in NYC anymore or has it all moved online? I’ll be in town in 3 months and would like to pick up some pieces and feel that thrill you get from buying some hot underwear and swimwear in person. Please shoot me a message or post here with any thoughts and ideas… Thanks! BB

This brings back memories. There used to be an underwear store on the upper East side near the Townhouse. This was about 25 - 30 years ago...pre-internet. I would stop in there to purchase a few items when I traveled to NYC. It seemed to be curated for men who liked sexy underwear, but were not the Christopher Street type. Nothing better than a handsome man in a suit with sexy underwear on underneath.

So what’s Townhouse like? Have you been? Online pics look great!

Oh wow-- it's horrible! Very non-gay neighborhood, a bit north of a block that somehow that used to be street hustler central in pre-Disney NYC. Townhouse was full of old queens shopping for rent boys indoors, and the boys who were looking for that opportunity. If you went in and were neither, the patrons became very disoriented. Not too far from the East Side Club, which was the only bath house open after the city shuttered the rest, in the era of AIDS panic, and before the same owners opened the West Side Club in Chelsea, which was where the hotter crowd went. And that was thirty years ago! Or more! I had no idea Townhouse was still open, or why! If you want a piano bar, there are better options on the west side in midtown or in Greenwich Village. If you want a hustler bar, I don't know if those exist in the internet age or in the boring family-friendly version of NYC. If you want high end or elegant, Townhouse was never more than a cheesy, simulated version in its best days, so the old queens out hustler hunting could tell themselves no one was onto them.

Damn! If that’s not one very clear and scathing review! OK, I’ll just cross that off my list of places to visit when in NYC. What a shame as its a place that SHOULD elevate and allow guys who don’t just want to hook up get together in a higher class setting. I might swing by for a look-see but that’s it…I’ll report back if i do go. Thanks for the advice none the less. What about hot underwear shopping? I have Leatherman, Nasty Pig and the dept stores if they have any thongs these days….any other stores pop up? I’ve noticed that the Spanish brand Addicted has opened up other US stores but not NYC…but let me know if you know of any others thanks!

Leatherman and Nasty Pig, as you might guess from the names, are oriented more toward leather and fetishwear. The department stores will carry the usual name brands, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Underarmour, etc, so the only thongs would be whatever model they may feature as a rarity among the boxer briefs. More likely to find thongs and the like along 8th Avenue in Chelsea and maybe a specialty store near the gay bars on 9th Ave in midtown. But between COVID and ridiculous rent increases, MANY smaller retailers (and the bars) have closed in the past few years. Most guys I know are finding what they need online. The days of the Loft and World are long gone....

Can’t say that i wasn’t expecting that reply…such a shame and is the case in most towns/cities. What were the Loft and World though? Was that one or two stores? I was trying to search online for at least some history of that. I did find the legacy of Underwares by Bloomingdales in NYC. Wish they were still around…from what i have heard about them, i would have had a standing account at those shops!

Those were two of the assorted boutiques on Christopher Street back when it was the main gay drag (no pun intended). I guess some of them opened in the '70s, then were there through the '80s and a few into the early '90s. Can't remember the names of the others. There was one at the very end of the street by the river, and another that was very successful briefly and had a clothing store, a furniture store and an underwear store, three locations. One of those moved uptown, the others closed. All of them carried trendy clothes, maybe jeans, and lots of swimwear and underwear. At at least one of them they had a whole rack of small, tight swimwear and thongs, multiple brands, especially Gazelle. On a good day in the early '90s you could find a hot exhibitionist trying things on and the store staff were only too happy if he wanted to come out of the dressing room to use the larger mirrors. But by then Christopher Street was fading, and gay boutiques moved to Chelsea, with one or two on the side streets along Ninth Avenue. But between the internet, gay assimilation, and changing trends, less focus on slutwear and more towards outerwear, and the whole underwear world moved to catalogs and then websites.

Such a sad move by society to move away from having more risqué clothing etc….but i do understand why outerwear sells better and more intimate items have moved to online….

Sorry to stray onto another topic, but it’s not even so much society moving away from sexy clothing (and women’s clothing makes that pretty clear!) as it is the economic reality of running a store in NYC. Good luck finding even a tiny store front in an area where there’s some foot traffic for less than $20k a month. Then add fixtures, inventory, utilities, staff…….. You gotta sell a ton of $40 thongs everyday to pay for that!