If you enjoy thrifting or vintage shopping, you need to add Resurrack Vintage Market to your list of places to check out.
This weekend-only vintage marketplace is located at a back alley of the vibrant, iconic street – Bugis Street. Resurrack Vintage Market gathers over 50 vendors retailing vintage items like vinyl records, digital cameras, retro toys and more.
How to find Resurrack Vintage Market?
If you are taking the MRT station, you can walk to exit C of Bugis MRT station. Then turn to your right and cross the road, walking towards Bugis Street Shopping Mall. The market is located right next to Bugis Street Shopping Mall. Walk into the mall and follow the sign that leads you to the ‘Art Lane’.
What are some of the vintage finds at Resurrack?
Handmade Crafts
There are a row of handmade craft booths offering handmade items such as crocheted bags, toys, modified figurine keychains, and accessories.
There are two booths caught my eye in particular. The first was modified figurine keychains by trinkette.sg, a home-based accessory business, located near the entrance. Figurines like glow-in-the-dark Smiskis, Sonny Angels, and nostalgic toys are paired together with adorable charms pieced together personally by the owner. These are creations that capture the attention of avid figurine lovers or those attracted to cute knick-knacks.
Prices of the keychains at the market range from SGD8.90 to SGD21.90, but prices are subject to items presented on the day. This booth also allows you to customise your own italian charm bracelets.
Another booth, situated at the back lane of the market, sells glass pendants, offering designs like mushrooms, sea creatures, and even the human heart. Pendants of different sizes are created to best accommodate your jewellery taste, and with each purchase comes a necklace string to hook your charm on. Prices of the pendants range from S$5 to a maximum of S$28, depending on the size and complexity of each charm.
I would recommend getting what you like on the first try, as each piece is handmade with a different colour or different variations – meaning that if you were to go back, the same piece might not be found again.
Vintage Clothing and other fashion accessories
As mentioned in the title, Resurrack is first and foremost a vintage market, accommodating at least one lane’s worth of space for vintage clothing vendors. You can find items like vintage bags, shoes, elegant dresses, and striking graphic tees.
Don’t be afraid to go digging through the racks, as there is an ample amount of space in the booth to move around and browse. Depending on the vendor, you can find branded goods like Brandy Melville and Ralph Lauren. Other stalls offer more affordable options without short-changing on quality.
You can also find booths selling vintage accessories like necklaces, rings, bracelets and more. Some of these accessories are going for less than $10.
If you’re lucky like I was, you might come across the vintage market’s mystery pack deal. For SGD 10, you can purchase a mystery pack according to your size and receive a piece of curated clothing! I would recommend going one size up just in case of possible misfits.
Vintage Collectables
Another vintage staple of Resurrack is their collectables section. This portion of Resurrack is specially carved out to be a segment of its own, not to be mixed with other booths.
You will be able to find boxes of cassette tapes for S$2, LP records for S$5, and special CDs or special edition albums for S$8.
From the Beatles to C-pop artists like Andy Lau, rummaging through these boxes will most definitely bring back great nostalgia for those who spent their childhood in the 2000s.
In addition to recordings, a large number of figurine toys and electronics like the Nokia, alongside film cameras, are also up for grabs! To be honest, these displays are older than me, so I never grew up with them, but upon showing my parents and grandparents the items there, they started telling me about how these inventions were revolutionary in their time – and expensive.
Being in that corner did feel like a museum rather than a market to me, since I was so in awe of everything displayed there, and the booth vendor looked just about my grandparents’ age. The booth vendors were all incredibly kind and were even teaching younger teenagers how the gadgets were used back in their days. I could tell that they took a lot of pride in their collections, and surely wanted to pass them down while explaining their booth.
Activities
Depending on the weekend you visit the market, different activities such as live portraits, jagua tattooing, henna, tarot card reading and more will be available. If you are looking for a particular activity, do check out Resurrack’s Instagram page for more details about the upcoming market.
Busking is also a standard activity at the market, where acoustics ring through the space for you to enjoy and shop simultaneously. Singers, duets, dancers, and DJs provide their talents during the later hours of the event to lift the mood and do what they love most.
There are also vintage photo booths where you can take photos with your friends and bring home the photo print for just $5.
If you are not into printing your own photos, you can just soak in the vibes and take photos against the vibey backdrops at the market. Almost every corner of the market is a photo spot.
We also spotted a few interesting booths like this live poetry writing booth where you can get Grace from Graceful Quills to write and type out a poetry using a typewriter.
You can also drop by Drawingqiqi‘s booth for custom portraits and gifts.
What is the best time to visit the market?
The peak timings are usually around 3.30pm (when it opens) until 5pm, and become busy again around 7pm (after dinner). A little later than 5pm is quite an optimal time to avoid major crowds and Singapore’s heat. But if you enjoy a city night vibe, 8pm would give the perfect atmosphere.
As the lanes are in a back alley and can only be accessed from Bugis Street or the outskirts of the alley, wheelchair users will most likely find it difficult to navigate around the market.
Verdict
All in all, Resurrack Market is worth a trip for vintage lovers, adventurers, and those who enjoy supporting or getting to know more local businesses. There will always be something new to discover, and it’s the kind of place you’ll leave with a unique find.
Resurrack Vintage Market
Address: 261 Victoria Street, Bugis Street (Bugis Street, Art Lane)
Opens every weekend, Saturdays & Sundays: from 3pm to 9pm
Contributed by Alexis Lee
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