Last week, La Rosa Vintage at 1711 Haight quietly closed its doors and some store shuffles ensued. We reached out to owner Werner Werwie for details.

Werwie owns three vintage stores on the street: Haight Ashbury Vintage, Held Over, and La Rosa. Recently, he was asked for a 100% rent increase at the Haight Ashbury Vintage address (1501 Haight Street), a jump from $7,000 to $14,000 per month. 

The rent hike, coupled with Werwie's feeling that Haight Street might not be the proper place for high-end vintage any more, prompted him to consider moving Haight Street Vintage into the La Rosa space. 

"People who buy high-end vintage don't want to have to step in dog shit," he told us. "The tourists don't want expensive, high-end stuff. They want cheap vintage."

As of September 1st, Haight Ashbury Vintage's lower-end stuff (think Hawaiian shirts) will have a new home at 1711 Haight. The higher end stock, plus La Rosa's stock, will mostly go to Held Over, and some will be sold online. 

Werwie, for the record, owns Retro City Vintage, which is a family of shops in the Bay Area that includes Mission Thrift, Mars in Berkeley and Clothes Contact on Valencia Street, which is also facing rental woes.  He considers Held Over to be his flagship store.  

No word yet on what's going in to the old Haight Ashbury Vintage location at 1501 Haight Street, but we'll keep an ear to the ground.