I dropped in to Atlanta for an afternoon on my way to another engagement in Georgia, and swung by a few spots of note for the menswear crowd. A local there could tell you more of what to see and do, but if you find yourself with a few hours in the city and are asking, “what cool shops are in Atlanta?”, here’s where I went (and wanted to go but couldn’t this time).
H. Stockton
They have a couple locations, and I stopped at the Park Place location as it was the easiest for me to get to on my way into town. It’s got a more old-school “Trad” vibe, but they do carry some more interesting makers like Ring Jacket, Carmina, Caruso and even Astorflex. The location I went had no Ring Jacket in stock, but to be fair they are a little in between seasons presently (and still recovering from pandemic sales dips and thus, smaller inventory buys).
Buckhead Shopping Center
This shopping center is pretty fancy—Jimmy Choo, Cucinelli, Dior all had storefronts here. If you like expensive designer stuff, this is your spot. I went there to scope out…
The RealReal
The online luxury consignment website with the world’s dumbest name has a few locations in select cities you can visit, so I stopped by the one in Atlanta’s ritzy shopping center at Buckhead. It was a severe disappointment (I’m guessing it exists primarily for you to go in to consign things), but I did get to try on this 39mm Rolex Explorer which is impossible at Rolex’s actual stores because their supply situation is a joke. I was underwhelmed by how the large numerals reflect light (being a single plane of metal, they disappear when reflecting a dark surface; that doesn’t bother me on, say, the applied metal logo of my Omega’s, which do the same thing, but the Explorer’s whole schtick is legibility so this seems like an oversight for the gigantic numerals to disappear at some angles. Perhaps newer models with lumed numerals don’t have this issue? To be fair, this is the same issue I have with the otherwise wonderful “First Omega In Space” model of the Speedmaster, which has this issue with its minute/hour hands).
Brunello Cucinelli
I only stopped in because I was parked across the street from it, obviously not intending to purchase anything, but the sales guy there was super nice and we chatted a bit. He offered me a drink. I handled this $1,175 cashmere sweater (I recently sold an old Volkswagen that we hadn’t driven much for the past 18 months for less money). Never change, Cucinelli.
Swiss Watch Expo
Another mostly online shop, Swiss Watch Expo has a showroom just down the street from the Buckhead shopping center, but it’s open by appointment only. Normally not a big deal, but they ask you how much you plan to spend, and to pick out up to 3 watches in their inventory to look at. I was not planning to spend money on a watch, but I figured I’d request an appointment anyhow and make it clear I was a tire kicker so I wasn’t misrepresenting myself.
I never heard back. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sid Mashburn
The obvious stop, I’d been to Sid Mashburn last time I was in Atlanta, but I came by anyway just to hang out and see what might be on sale still. Sales associate Thomas chatted with me while I was there and accommodated me trying a few things on. Wesley and I geeked out on watches. It was good times. Actually there are a couple things I liked quite a bit, linked below:
Fog Grey garment-dyed five pockets
If you like the fit of their 5-pockets (they’re not perfect on me but they’re quite good), the “fog grey” color seems flat and boring online. But in person, they have a great color quality to them; I actually assumed they were a very pale sage green until I checked the tag. It’s a wonderful color that would look fantastic with a navy jacket or sweater, but also is subtle enough it’d pair enough with virtually anything. Pictured below underneath Sid’s “natural” color jeans (which I have and recommend), and on top of a pair of pure white chinos for comparison.
Garment-Dyed Canvas sport chinos
The canvas is super heavy. I wondered if they’d be too stiff to have any natural give to them and blow out the seams at the knee (since Sid’s fit is fairly slim). Indeed they do, and they can be altered in the waistband and other areas more readily than their 5-pockets since they have normal single stitching, so if you needed to size up and bring them down in the waist/seat/etc. you could do so easily.
The benefit of heavy canvas like this is that it will break in well, soften up and get some character. Personally, I want these in a fatigue green—that would age beautifully.
The Kenyan bead belts
I have always wanted to try these on—they look so cool in the photos they post with a faded pair of jeans. They’re a definite statement. Part of me feels that I’d rather buy a belt like this from a merchant in Kenya on a trip there someday if I were going to do it—more of a story and connection to the style. But then again I have a J.Crew Panama hat so there’s a limit to that authenticity argument ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Get a good bead on it. These just landed & they’re guaranteed to go fast. #sidmashburn https://t.co/YY3Kwim3Ug pic.twitter.com/sPp8aBKanB
— Sid & Ann Mashburn (@SidAnnMashburn) July 27, 2018
Food content: Lunch at McKendrick’s
Right in the same plaza as H.Stockton is a fancy steak house called McKendrick’s that I had lunch at. I sat at the bar and ordered a burger and double IPA and watched Olympic badminton. It was outstanding. I’d recommend it.
After ATL, I went on to my destination, a summer camp I spent a night and day at to shoot video for work. I got this wrist shot along the path leading to the campfire just after having a s’more with some teen campers and other staff members. Good times.
(Help support this site! If you buy stuff through my links, your clicks and purchases earn me a commission from many of the retailers I feature, and it helps me sustain this site—as well as my menswear habit ;-) Thanks!)
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