"Have fun. This is the best place to shop," a woman says, brushing past me toward Kameo Vintage's colorful racks. She's not wrong.
Roberto Cavalli jeans hang beside Chanel belts, a printed Zara blouse and a Juicy Couture purse from the early 2000s. Every rack feels like a treasure hunt, with pieces from different decades, cities and versions of the person who might wear them next.
Teenagers browse alongside longtime North Shore residents, while executives hunt for one-of-a-kind pieces before catching flights.
A few feet away, Melissa Carter is helping a customer browse. The woman pauses, looks around and tells her Kameo would be right at home in Austin. Carter laughs.
Kameo Vintage isn't supposed to feel like a typical North Shore boutique, and that's the point.
"I think the North Shore is in desperate need of something new and something innovative," Carter says. "There's a lot of women in the North Shore that feel they need permission to look different, and Kameo Vintage gives them that permission."
Carter knows the North Shore well. Raised in Highland Park, she started collecting vintage in fifth grade, when she would leave Northbrook Court to shop Belmont Avenue's Hollywood Mirror.
She eventually moved to New York, where she spent 18 years immersed in the city's fashion and creative scene. When the pandemic brought her home, Carter returned to the community that shaped her long before she imagined opening a business there. Today, she lives a six-minute walk from Kameo.
That history still fills the store. Carter jokes it feels like a high school reunion every day, and she isn't exaggerating. The customer who has just left is someone whose family she has known since childhood, showing many who walk through the door are neighbors, old friends and familiar faces reconnecting.
Carter's influence extends beyond the racks. Her "bread and butter," as she calls it, is closet curation and suitcase styling for busy women, including the CEO of Ulta Cosmetics. But her approach to fashion reflects the belief that brought her to vintage: great style does not have to be defined by a label.
Carter appreciated luxury from an early age but discovered vintage offered the same craftsmanship and individuality at a fraction of the price.
"I also think vintage should be approachable," she says. That philosophy is reflected in a mix of price points designed to welcome every shopper, for any size, style or budget
Her summer residency at The Vault, founded by interior designer Elizabeth Mollen and collector Ellen Ozmun, brings Kameo's curated vintage fashion into a space filled with thoughtfully collected furniture and interiors. Carter went to high school with Mollen, making the collaboration feel like another hometown reunion.
She believes partnerships like this strengthen Highland Park's growing creative community and help small businesses support one another. The residency continues through Sept. 30.
Despite owning a boutique on the North Shore, Carter doesn't buy with the neighborhood in mind.
"I actually shop for my style," she says, drawing inspiration from SoHo, Williamsburg, Paris and Montreal, then mixing streetwear, high fashion and unexpected layers into a collection that feels distinctly her own.
"When anyone has a business, you're creating your own world," Carter says. "Then you're inviting people into it."
Spend a few minutes inside Kameo Vintage, and you realize that's exactly what she's done. At 453 Roger Williams Ave. in Highland Park, Carter hasn't simply opened a vintage store. She's created a place where fashion feels less like following trends and more like discovering the next version of yourself.
More at kameovintagestyle.com and @kameovintage.