Danny’s Warehouse, the Adult Beginner Review

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:

Mmmm hmm.
The $1 room:

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.

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