name: Danny’s Warehouse
website: dannyswarehouse.com
location: Culver City (see website for street address)
hours: Sunday through Friday 9-5, closed Saturday. Read that a second time before you get in the car. They are closed on Saturdays and open on Sundays.
price range: everything is ten dollars or less
What?!: it’s all overstock, so, like, stuff that didn’t sell at full retail price elsewhere. Which means if you are looking for something specific, it might not be there, and if you’re looking for something currently sold in retail stores it definitely won’t be, but everything else in the world is.
what do they carry?!: Nice stuff. I saw Capezio, Danskin, Bloch, Bal Togs, Body Wrappers, Mondor etc. As they say on their website, We are the purveyors of more dance clothing than the human mind can imagine, all discounted at $10 or less. Ballet leotards, gymnastics leotards, jazz pants, tap shoes, ballet shoes, jazz shoes, shorts, cheer gear, sports bras, skirts, costumes, tutu’s, tights galore, and so much more!
the shopping experience: This place, omg.
It is some kind of dancer heaven you guys.
But they are not kidding about the warehouse part:
This is the view walking through the patterned tights room toward the wall of adult leotards. Leotards are sorted by color, in big old busted cardboard boxes. The Adult Beginner loves things arranged by color, so appealing.
I took terrible pictures in this place because THERE WAS NO TIME FOR PHOTOS OMG LOOK AT ALL THE LEOTARDS!!!!!
sales people: Super nice and helpful. I’m pretty sure it was Danny himself who greeted us and gave us the tour. Despite the apparent chaos of the sort-by-color system, the sales people actually know what they have and don’t have, which I found impressive. When I asked if the longsleeve leotards are stored with short sleeves or somewhere else, the sales lady was able to tell me that they didn’t have any black in stock but that all the other longsleeves were with their color group.
sizes: I wear a size large in leotard, and was worried that they might only have tiny tiny tiny sizes. But no! Great range of size in every color, I didn’t feel limited by that letter L at all.
what about men’s clothes?: Dudes, I was so into digging through the leotards I totally forgot to look out for you. Sorry about that, I was just totally overwhelmed. Until I got home. Then I called and the nice sales lady said that they have a rack of men’s tights, no dance belts, no shirts.
Probably because it’s an overstock place, and men’s ballet gear has a longer shelf life than women’s? Men’s clothes are classic with fewer trends to chase? Maybe?
They have lots of ballet slippers in black, white, pink, even brick red, and I bet if you called they could tell you what men’s things they have in stock at that moment.
dressing rooms: Four booths with smallish mirrors and curtain doors. No frills.
bathroom: They used to not have one. Now they do! Sort of. It’s a port-a-john out back. You’ve been warned.
returns policy: exchanges for store credit only, no refunds. No exchange on the tights or dollar items.
shipping: domestic and international, see website for details.
Other crazy stuff:
The patterned tights:
Including this amazing Gordian Knot of modern dance half shoe thingies:
in conclusion: If you are shopping dance clothes in LA, start here. Likewise if you are putting together a kid’s dress-up box, costuming a webisode, getting ready for a bachelorette weekend, start here. I’ve only mentioned the ballet stuff, they have sooooo much more, it’s amazing.
Um, wow, I am totally jeals. That place looks awesome. Usually stores like that give me the heebie-jeebies. There’s a place here called The Garment District (“it’s not a district, it’s a store”) that seems like it would be on par with this, but I’ve been terrified to check it out in person. But I would go to this Danny’s place. Because… leotards. That’s really all I need to hear.
The money you’d save might just about offset the plane ticket.
I cannot express just how much I want to go there. It looks AMAZING, in an Aladdin’s Cave kind of way. Oh. So. Much. Pretty. Dancewear. (My leotards are arranged by colour. It is pleasing. Yes.)
I’m guessing that they stock less stuff in XS/S though, as they’re the In Demand sizes – gets me every time in dancewear sales. (Not helped by time I got confused about which size I needed & got S not XS & ended up with leos that need straps shortening for sake of decency. Or rather, to stop me panicking about imminent indecency. Because focusing on antics of leotard is NOT the way to go about having a Good Class. Le non.)
Good selection of small, XS I’m not sure, with the really little looking leotards I’d just move on without checking the size, so I’m not sure how well stocked they were. And ofcourse this is now, in two months it could be different.
Leotards should definitely not be having antics in class, agreed.
In some ways suppose it’s pretty much a moot point for me, as unlikely to end up there any time, um, ever, sadly, but good to know, thank you :)
Rebellious Dancewear is a curse. *shakes anguished hoof at sky*
Woa, awesome! I wish it was here tho.
Sooo… What did you get?!
Coming soon to a blog post near you!
Ah, looking forward to it!
Yikes. The amazing is overwhelming. I am sad this isn’t in michigan. And Danny has a photo section on his website, that’s fun.
Yes! The photos. I find that very charming for some reason. My husband says it’s that no one is just what they are, everyone is something more.
I am so impressed by the staff’s knowledge of the stock! That is awesome! (I used to work clothing retail and have no patience for folks at regular retail chains who do not know what they have in the store. In-depth knowledge in that place? Fabulous!!)
For serial.
SWEET BABY JESUS the shooooooooooes…
Plus sizes? Like 2xl? Pointes? I cannot even fathom $10 pointes, but wouldn’t that be awesome?
I didn’t see any pointes, in the warehouse or on the website, which is sad because it would be great to buy ten dollar pointes for the art project possibilities alone, but probably a good thing for the safety of all the untrained ankles out there.
Didn’t see any leotards in 2XL, but that might be worth a phone call check.
I love it! Thanks for taking photos and telling about it! (it looks all a bit like a smaller version of my basement; with all the costumes and materials falling out of crumbling boxes and bags… :p )
O. M. G. This might just balance the cost of a plane ticket to the West Coast. Farish costumes and random dance stud forever!
My better half has the sparkly space tights (in blue) and keeps saying he’s going to wear them to ballet class someday…
Random. Dance. STUFF. I keep saying I’m not going to post comments from my phone anymore, and this is why.
Lol, but wouldn’t surprise me to see a random dance stud at Danny’s either.
:D
Pingback: Why it’s a good idea to double check the business hours before you go dance clothes shopping. | Adult Beginner
Pingback: Just a few more pictures from Danny’s Warehouse | Adult Beginner
Ohhhhh man how I’d love to get my hands on one of those boxes and just fling everything out and look for that hidden treasure..!!!
Finally a pair of tights (pussy) to go with my new truck.
