Now’s A Good Time to Check Out Bad Timing Shop

If you were anything like me growing up, your evenings were filled with watching Nickelodeon and Disney channel. The wildest dream of my youth was to be on ‘Slime Time Live’ one day or make the cast of All That. If you are nostalgic of those simpler times, check out Bad Timing located near Crosstown. From pop t-shirts, authentic hats and all sorts of stylish, iconic items, this vintage shop will have you feeling like a cool kid from the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. 

Perhaps, you never had enough money in your piggy bank to purchase that rad Nickelodeon alarm clock you had your eye on as a kiddo. Thankfully Bad Timing is here to give you a chance to redeem yourself, with racks on racks on racks of vibrant t-shirts, hats, apparel and accessories.

Photo: Kathleen Blackwell

Friends turned roommates turned business owners, Nate Packard and Nick (Ish) Blanco, transformed their stockpiles of old-fashioned wears into a buy, trade, and sell shop. Pulling inspiration from larger cities where Round Two stores are easy to find, Nate felt the Bluff City was missing that genuine, classic flair. Nick owns part of Black Lodge Video and Nate is a skilled photographer—so they combined their knowledge, creative ideas and came together to bring Bad Timing to life. The friends dipped their feet in by having a pop-up shop at Urban Outfitters which eventually led them to opening another temporary pop-up downtown. With two successful runs under their belts, it was prime time to open up a store. After searching for the right location, an ideal opportunity found them, and by December 2019, the store was open to the public.

Tumblr was where Nate (and so many of us) discovered love for fashion and pop culture. In fact, it was a past tumblr url that inspired the shop’s name; a Bombay Bicycle Club song title that seemed to fit the energy the store was aiming for so it only made sense to use it for the store. 

“When looking for inventory, we search for interesting items. You know, bands, sports, pop culture; things that are significant to people. The material that we grew up seeing on TV shows like, honestly a lot of our stuff, especially like the pop culture section, are from shows we used to watch. From wrestling memorabilia, to movies we used to watch and music we listened to, overall, it really is a wide variety of stuff and a lot of things we all wanted when we were younger,” Nick (Ish) answered. 

When asked what their personal favorite pieces are, Nate and Nick both responded that pop culture type movie promo tees were their personal favorites.

“It’s the unique stuff from the times you had forgotten about. You see a jacket with a character on it, and the memories come flowing,” Nate mentioned. 

It was very clear while interviewing the Bad Timing duo that they have a passion for finding this in depth collection of pieces. Each and every item is hand picked and thoroughly inspected to identify that it is authentic—no reprints allowed. 

Though Bad Timing now has a store, they remain active on eBay and Instagram. With hopes of expanding in the future, the owners plan on opening another location, focusing more on specific objects, and launching a website. If you have any old clothes(specifically 80’s-2005) bring them to the store where they may be given a new life, because what may be bad timing for you, could be perfect timing for others.

Bad Timing is located at 433 N. Cleveland. 

Follow along their journey and keep an eye out for new inventory on their Instagram and Facebook.

Share Article:

More Articles