I used to be the popular bf when I’d take my girls to a rotation of cool places. I knew this cool fashion importer lady in a hole-in-the-wall shop, was friendly w/ the good fabric lady who ran it out of her living room. Was always a cool thing to be able to take a girl somewhere like that. Never looked to rebuild my hipster connections anywhere but home though. 

But those places were crawling with chicks, to the point the proprietress could easily hook you up w/ a “hey can you help that girl w/ that bolt? it’s heavy”