I've been increasingly disappointed with Piccolino over the years, after initially being a huge fan…read morewhen it was located across 2nd St in the much-smaller location than the space it occupies now (which is shared with another store). I always go in with high hopes, and occasionally I'm rewarded with an amazing find, such as the absolute cutest, black-and-white beaded capri sweatsuit I've ever seen. I splurged on that one 2 years ago, and I've just been so happy with it. Beautifully made, and so unique.
The problem is, their prices are very high, even for basic items. Expect to pay at least $50 for each piece of clothing, and usually over $100. Case in point, yesterday, near the door, there was a rack of gorgeous dresses with tie-died skirts. In any other boutique, this would cost maybe, at the highest, $40 or so, probably less. At Piccolino, they were in the $120 range. These are *sundresses* - nothing fancy. There's just no way I'm paying that, no matter how cute it is. The prices just seem unnecessarily inflated.
Accessories have also been disappointing lately. At the old location, accessories were really the focus, given the smaller size of that location. Many appeared to be handmade, or at least very high quality, and clearly they were carefully selected to set just the right tone for the store. In recent years, the accessories appear to be just an afterthought - overpriced, poor quality, and uninteresting.
Piccolino is much like a formerly cute cottage: a place that used to be tended to lovingly, but over the years has fallen into a state of sad disrepair, a place with so much wasted potential. This is a place that used to be one of those unique little 2nd St. Lewes gems that now is just as overpriced and generic as any other mainstream boutique in any other small town. I still go when I am in Lewes, hoping for the Piccolino of old, but so far, no luck.
