Copenhagen is home to the busiest airport in Northern Europe. As one of the most popular metropolises in the region, it boasts countless places worth exploring. When I first visited a few years ago, my schedule was too tight to fit in a trip to any heritage stores. This year, on my second visit, I finally got the chance to take my time and browse to my heart’s content.  

This checkpoint article was Wardrobe 19, a 15-year-old vintage store that had just moved to a new location this year. The new space is quite close to the city center—only about a 10-minute walk from Nyhavn, a well-known scenic spot. I had reached out to them in advance via Instagram to mention I planned to stop by and take some photos, and they were very welcoming.  

Upon arrival, I was surprised to find the store housed in a 200-year-old family residence with a unique architectural style. The heritage shop is located on the “first and a half floor,” while another restaurant occupies the ground floor below.  

There was a small freestanding sign at the entrance.  

Stepping through the door, two mannequins immediately gave away that this was a heritage men’s clothing store.  

Next to the mannequins, a wooden board was engraved with the life stories of several generations of the Schwartz family—the original owners of the house. The property has changed hands multiple times over the years, and the street-facing section has now been converted into commercial spaces.  

Turning left and climbing a few steps after entering, I could see the entire shop. Like many similar stores, it proved that “good things come in small packages”—rent in the city center is undoubtedly expensive, so the space was not large. However, the interior decor was incredibly stylish, creating an immersive vintage atmosphere.  

For leather jackets, the store offered brands like Aero (UK) and Thedi (Greece).  

The well-worn Aero jacket the store owner was wearing had a great vibe, looks really stunning. I initially thought it was made of horse leather, but the owner explained it was actually steer hide (cow leather).  

Next came my favorite part: exploring the boots. Nearly all the boots in the store were from Bright Shoemaker—a brand I had never heard of before. The brand offered a wide variety of styles: in addition to common everyday basic models, there were designs that blended elements from other styles. Examples included low-top Derby shoes with Western boot patterns, hiking shoes (adapted from high-top hiking styles), and snake-skin Western Chelsea boots—all quite unique. A vulture graphic was printed on the shoe boxes.  

There was also a pair of more workwear-style Balmoral boots, featuring a hidden tongue with an inner ear design and swan neck-inspired stitching details on the vamp.  

The most surprising pair was the Jodhpur boots, which had an unusual split design on the vamp. Whether you found them attractive or not, they were certainly creative.  

The store displayed a vamp sample of this Jodhpur style.  

They also exhibited the anatomical structure of a Chelsea boot, which could be used to briefly explain Goodyear-welted footwear and similar construction techniques.  

Another interesting shoe accessory was a metal heel guard.  

A few pairs of boots were also displayed near the entrance.  

Later, when I returned to my home I learned that Bright Shoemaker was actually a brand founded by Martin (Wardrobe 19’s owner) 10 years ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this when I was in the store—I only found out later through their official website. If I had known earlier, I could have had a deeper conversation with the owner about the boots; our chat at the time was quite superficial. Luckily, we continued our conversation on Instagram afterward.  

This is what makes travel so interesting: it’s full of unexpected surprises and small regrets, but these are all part of the journey. You just have to accept them calmly—there’s no use overthinking what’s already happened, as everything is meant to be.  

Their engineer boots also had distinct features, with unstructured small square toes. On the day of my visit, Martin was wearing a pair of his own Bright Shoemaker engineer boots made of Kudu (my favorite leather), so I took a photo of them.  

There was another pair of the same engineer boot style but in a different leather—Horween CXL cowhide.  

The store also had engineer boots with other toe shapes, and overall, they had a good selection on display.  

Let’s move on to other clothing items.  

For raw denim , the store mainly carried Full Count products.  

Near the street-facing windows, there was a selection of bags, primarily from the French brand Bleu de Chauffe.  

They also had a variety of wallets and accessories.  

When it came to silver jewelry, the store focused on First Arrows—you can check out an article I wrote earlier about their FA three-arrow pendant.  

Notably, the store stocked fragrances—a category rarely seen in similar heritage shops.  

Later, I chatted with another staff member named Kenan. He seemed quite interested in Chinese culture and mentioned he loved eating mapo tofu. He even knew how to pronounce Chinese phrases like “太好了” (tài hǎo le, meaning “that’s great”) and the character “牛” (niú, meaning “cow” ). When I told him that “leather” translates to “皮” (pí) in Chinese, he immediately repeated “牛皮牛皮” (niú pí niú pí, “cow leather, cow leather”) several times—it was very amusing. Later, he asked me how to say “horse” in Chinese, and when I told him it was “马” (mǎ), he pointed to a leather jacket in the store and said “马皮” (mǎ pí, “horse leather”), followed by “马皮太好了” (mǎ pí tài hǎo le, “horse leather is great”). I laughed and praised him for being smart, and we all ended up laughing together.  

Me and Martin, I didn’t wear boots cause I need to catch the flight that afternoon…

That concludes my visit to Wardrobe 19. Their Instagram handle was displayed on the glass window. After saying goodbye to the owner, I stepped back onto the street.  

Less than 50 meters down the road, I spotted another classic men’s clothing store called HANSEN. I knew this brand from Germany webstore Cultizm. They had a few pairs of Red Wing boots in stock.  

HANSEN was quite small—I went in, looked around for a few minutes, and then left.  

All in all, it was a very enjoyable shopping experience. That’s all for this article—I’ll see you next time!