hat shops in Boston/Cambridge?

[French]

Hi,

My job brings me to the Boston/Cambridge area regularly. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a place to pick up a new lid. Also, I'd love to meet other loungers for coffee, dinner, lunch whatever.

Thanks,
French

[besdor]

Amazingly, I don't believe there is a hat store in Boston. It's hard to inagine a famous city like Boston not having a hat store . There may be a few clothing stores that carry hats but the selection wont be that great.

Come to NYC!!!


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

[Aaron Hats]

Here's the rundown on hat stores in New England:

Mass: One hat store that used to be on Newbury St. Moved to a less prime location but nobody seems to know where to. No website, no computer in the store.

Rhode Island: None

Connecticut: Delmonico's in New Haven. In business nearly 100 years. I haven't been there but really nice people to deal with.

Maine: Queen of Hats in Portland. By the name you can tell she deals mostly in women's hats but is starting to spread her wings in the men's dept. Very nice people.

Vermont: None

New Hampshire: Aaron Hats in North Conway. Great variety of hat brands, styles and price ranges. We've stayed true to our original business plan of offering something for the entire family. We have a growing number of customers who drive 3-4 hours to come visit us.

We may be a little out of the way but isn't this view worth it?



Aaron

[French]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I've been to DelMonico's twice now (they are only about a 20 minute drive from me). Aarons is on my list of places to visit, but the 4-5 hour drive each way necissitates it being a weekend trip.

I appreciate all the information everyone here has shared, and how welcome you have made me feel.

french

[imoldfashioned]

We may not have hat stores but there's a bunch of friendly Loungers in Boston--drop a line in the events section if you want to try to get a meet-up together!

[Razzman]

French, I just learned of this hat shop in Boston. It's called TOPPERS, INC.
and it's located at 151 Tremont St. Boston, MA. I have not yet been to the shop, but I plan on making a visit in the near future.

[Barb]

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/gb0EMaNO58f1Lnc4XqNp8Q?select=RAzfZJzPwcErhT8tUrVk aA

Looks interesting AND expensive

Originally Posted by Razzman

French, I just learned of this hat shop in Boston. It's called TOPPERS, INC.
and it's located at 151 Tremont St. Boston, MA. I have not yet been to the shop, but I plan on making a visit in the near future.

[Aaron Hats]

Originally Posted by Razzman

French, I just learned of this hat shop in Boston. It's called TOPPERS, INC.
and it's located at 151 Tremont St. Boston, MA. I have not yet been to the shop, but I plan on making a visit in the near future.

That's the one that used to be on Newbury Street.

Barb, Do you know if that's from their old or new store?

Aaron

[Dalexs]

Hmmm, Toppers moved? It was on Newbury St last time I was there this summer.
Well Tremont is probably a better place for them. More up and coming, less Rodeo Drive.

They are only a hat shop by name. They carry a few big box name hats.
They deal mostly with womens hats. Not a terrible place, but not what one would hope or expect in a city like Boston.

Maybe thats one we need to open here in town, an honest to goodness hat shop.

[Razzman]

The store is open at the Tremont St. address. I spoke with a student last week who was sporting a black Stetson. He indicated that he purchased this hat a shop in Boston called Toppers. He couldn't remember the address but assured me he would be back with it. He proved to be a man of his word and came around this morning with a business card from Toppers. He was also sporting a new black Morefelt Derby which he purchased this past Saturday. He also said the store was near the Boston Common.

[Barb]

from the architecture.

Plus, Yelp lists the address as 151 Tremont and the street number in the picture next to their window is 230.

Looks like they have (or had) quite a collection of nice hatboxes

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/gb0EMaNO58f1Lnc4XqNp8Q?select=fBUmB9MeudRxJDTCvoOt Tg

and "frou frou" ladies hats for garden parties (not my style, but..)

Originally Posted by Aaron Hats

That's the one that used to be on Newbury Street.

Barb, Do you know if that's from their old or new store?

Aaron

[mineral]

Originally Posted by French

Hi,

My job brings me to the Boston/Cambridge area regularly. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a place to pick up a new lid. Also, I'd love to meet other loungers for coffee, dinner, lunch whatever.

Thanks,
French

I'm new in this forum, but I think I can help with this.

As far as I know of, Toppers is indeed the only (fully) hat store around. They are at Tremont Street at the Boston Commons (near the Loews Theatre). It is not a place a man can shop for hat, although ladies might have better luck. Another poster suggested that they sell Stetsons, which I don't know about. All I remember is my visit there to look for panamas this summer and finding only 1 style from New York Hat Company.

If you want to find places where you want to buy (new) hats, there are 2 stores in Central Square on Mass Ave which sell hats. There is a store in the CambridgeSide Galleria which rents out tuxedos where hats can also be purchased (I think?). In Boston, there are stores on Washington Street (very near Toppers) right outside the Downtown Crossing stop that sell hats as well. And I think Brooks Brothers on Newbury Street also sell hats, though obviously not a lot of them. If it's a new hat you want, I think you would do better on the internet than in Boston.

Now in terms of vintage, the only place where I have gone so far is Bobby from Boston. They have quite a variety, ranging from Herbert Johnson, Lock and Co., Cavanagh, Stetson, and Borsalino. It is so far also the only place in Boston where I actually managed to find a hat I would buy (and did buy). Given the (dire) lack of places where one can find a decent hat in Boston, I would strongly urge you to check them out.

Good luck!

[ideaguy]

Bobby from Boston?? Can you give us an idea where this emporium is at-
worth a trip in from the wild West half of the state to find a real hat store...
The last real hatter I knew of in Mass. was Nadar the Hatter in Springfield.
Master hatter, had tremendous selection of vintage hats, men's and women's, unfortunately not in business anymore...was very lucky to have a few hats made/refurbished by Bill; great wit, knowledgeable, arms like Popeye, did things the old-fashioned way, and was/is an historian of the hatmaking industry and fashion, I understand he was working on some museum catalogue projects,etc. Travelled the world, had one of the sharpest eyes (two?) for any objets d'art, fashion, ephemera...real rare bird.

Please do give us a heads-up on Bobby's if you could? thanks

[mineral]

Originally Posted by ideaguy

Bobby from Boston?? Can you give us an idea where this emporium is at-
worth a trip in from the wild West half of the state to find a real hat store...
The last real hatter I knew of in Mass. was Nadar the Hatter in Springfield.
Master hatter, had tremendous selection of vintage hats, men's and women's, unfortunately not in business anymore...was very lucky to have a few hats made/refurbished by Bill; great wit, knowledgeable, arms like Popeye, did things the old-fashioned way, and was/is an historian of the hatmaking industry and fashion, I understand he was working on some museum catalogue projects,etc. Travelled the world, had one of the sharpest eyes (two?) for any objets d'art, fashion, ephemera...real rare bird.

Please do give us a heads-up on Bobby's if you could? thanks

Ideaguy, here it is:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/EfcrnfzYr3SKTozM82l82Q

I think they are open 12-6 PM each day.

It's not exactly a hat shop, but a vintage clothings store that sells hats (quite a quantity at that). Asides from fedoras, they even have homburgs and boaters. Happy hunting!

[Barb]

http://www.yelp.com/biz/EfcrnfzYr3SKTozM82l82Q

Note that the listing states they do NOT accept credit cards.

Originally Posted by ideaguy

Bobby from Boston?? Can you give us an idea where this emporium is at-
worth a trip in from the wild West half of the state to find a real hat store...
The last real hatter I knew of in Mass. was Nadar the Hatter in Springfield.
Master hatter, had tremendous selection of vintage hats, men's and women's, unfortunately not in business anymore...was very lucky to have a few hats made/refurbished by Bill; great wit, knowledgeable, arms like Popeye, did things the old-fashioned way, and was/is an historian of the hatmaking industry and fashion, I understand he was working on some museum catalogue projects,etc. Travelled the world, had one of the sharpest eyes (two?) for any objets d'art, fashion, ephemera...real rare bird.

Please do give us a heads-up on Bobby's if you could? thanks

[ideaguy]

And a big thank you!! harder than Chinese algebra finding decent
duds without combing through the wannabe consignment shops or
at the other end - the Salvation Army;
So it's off to Bobby's, looking for things I don't need, can't afford,
don't have room for, and I already have three of them...whata dope
I iz...but it could be worse...haven't heard of hats hurting people
lately.
Thanks again for the tip

[mineral]

Originally Posted by ideaguy

And a big thank you!! harder than Chinese algebra finding decent
duds without combing through the wannabe consignment shops or
at the other end - the Salvation Army;
So it's off to Bobby's, looking for things I don't need, can't afford,
don't have room for, and I already have three of them...whata dope
I iz...but it could be worse...haven't heard of hats hurting people
lately.
Thanks again for the tip

You are welcome.

Finding a place to buy a hat in Boston is actually the easy one, compared to my current task of trying to find someone in Boston who can repair my Borsalino ....

[Barb]

and if you can, take some pictures!

Originally Posted by ideaguy

So it's off to Bobby's, looking for things I don't need, can't afford,
don't have room for, and I already have three of them...whata dope
I iz...but it could be worse...haven't heard of hats hurting people
lately.
Thanks again for the tip

[Lorne]

Hello all,

I live near Boston, and work in Boston, so I've got the skinny for you. The skinny is, "Nunka, Nada, Nyet, Zilch."

I've been to Toppers, and there is no reason to go back. They had ONE nice straw in the place, and that was it.

I've found that vintage places are a better shot. There is a place, I think in Brookline right on route 9, called "Cafe Society" that had a few nice hats. None of them were my size however.

I got my two best hats, both Dobbs 20's I think, in a run of the mill junk store. One was 7 1/2, which is fine for me. The other is a 7 1/4, which is to small and I imagine that I'm going to sell that one off.


Lorne D. Gilsig

[troy]

Hi,

I know this thread is super old, but anyone in the Mass, CT area should know about the hat shop that played a major part of me becoming an everyday wearer. The Brim And Crown on White St. (at Sumner Ave) in Springfield, MA. The gentleman that owns the shop is Richard, and he is great.

The website for his shop is:
brimandcrown.com

Being new to hat wearing, I cannot judge his level of expertise, I only know he knows much more than I do!

I have bought two hats from him this summer, and I will definitely be going back once my bank account has forgiven me!