W. Armstrong& Son

Armstrong's has sold second-hand and vintage clothing in Edinburgh, by its own account, since 1840 — a claim the modern company inherits rather than proves, but a genuinely deep pedigree that makes it one of the oldest vintage clothiers in the country. Carol and Greg McMorris are the directors of record, running a family firm across four city-centre shops with the Clerk Street and Grassmarket rooms at its heart: floor-to-rail decades of coats, frocks, tweed and fancy dress that dress the Fringe every August and the city's students year-round. Edinburgh takes costume seriously — festival, theatre and everyday — and this is the wardrobe it raids. Four shops, one family, and a rummage measured in hours.