DAVENPORT, Iowa — Back in March of this year, Darien Collins opened the doors of his new vintage clothing store in downtown Davenport after years of handpicking his inventory and clothing items. The store, Envied Vintage Clothing, Etc., was located at the corner of Main Street and Fourth Street in The Davenport building.
After the tragic partial building collapse on May 28, just three months after Collins opened, the new storeowner lost everything and was forced to close.
"I actually wasn't even in the building. My grandmother was watching the shop," Collins said during an interview on The Current. "At first, I thought she was joking when she had called me but I quickly realized that she wasn't joking and yeah, it was pretty serious."
Collins made sure the tragedy wasn't the end of his business-owner story, though. In the months following, he began finding items and clothing to fill up his store again. On Oct. 14, he opened his doors at a new location with all new inventory.
"It was kind of like a challenge to myself a little bit. To build my inventory back and see how quickly I could do it, how much better I got at the process," Collins said.
When asked why he decided to try again, Collins said that his first launch was quite successful, adding that he has a lot of fun running the store.
"I wanted to keep on doing it," he said.
The store is currently open at 800 Isabel Bloom Way Suite 3 in Davenport, but Collins said this is just temporary. In 10 months, the store will move to the Bucktown area on Second Street downtown.
"I knew a few different businesses that were right next to me," Collins said. "Nobody else has quite made it out to open a new location yet."
The store is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and has various clothing items, furniture, art, home decor and jewelry, including a lot of old local items.
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