The Faraway sells curated vintage goods and secondhand books from a showroom tucked into 17 and a half Fan Tan Alley in Victoria, British Columbia, a location that is a destination in its own right. Fan Tan Alley runs through the heart of Victoria’s Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in Canada, and is widely known as the narrowest commercial street in the country, a slim brick-lined passage barely wide enough for two people to pass comfortably. Setting a vintage and book shop inside that historic alley gives The Faraway a built-in sense of romance and discovery before a customer even steps through the door, which fits neatly with the shop’s own description of itself as vintage for romantics.
Inside, the shop’s focus splits between two main collections: vintage clothing, accessories, and home goods on one side, and secondhand and collectible books on the other. That pairing sets The Faraway apart from a typical vintage clothing boutique, since browsing the racks and browsing the shelves both reward the same kind of unhurried, treasure-hunting mindset that draws people to Fan Tan Alley in the first place. The business also sells gift cards, giving regulars an easy way to introduce friends and family to the shop without having to guess at sizes or specific titles.
The Faraway runs both a physical storefront and an online shop, and the two are deliberately not identical: the business is upfront that hundreds of items in the Fan Tan Alley showroom never make it onto the website, so committed vintage hunters and book collectors are encouraged to visit in person rather than assume the online catalog tells the whole story. That approach rewards local shoppers and Victoria visitors willing to make the short walk through the alley, while still giving out-of-town customers a way to browse and buy remotely through the online store.
Beyond its own site, The Faraway keeps an active presence on Instagram and TikTok under the handle shopthefaraway, using both platforms to show off new vintage arrivals, book finds, and the atmosphere of the Fan Tan Alley space itself. That social media push points to a shop that has built a following among a younger vintage-loving audience drawn to nostalgic style and physical books alike, rather than relying purely on foot traffic from Chinatown tourism.
Location alone does a lot of work for a shop like this. Fan Tan Alley already draws steady foot traffic from people exploring Victoria’s historic Chinatown district, one of the city’s most photographed and walked corridors, and The Faraway gives those visitors a reason to slow down and step inside rather than simply pass through on their way to Fisgard Street. For anyone in Victoria looking for vintage clothing, home goods, or secondhand books with a bit of story behind them, the shop’s alleyway setting and dual focus on fashion and reading material make it a distinctive stop rather than an interchangeable vintage boutique. In short, The Faraway is a vintage clothing and secondhand bookshop operating out of Victoria’s historic Fan Tan Alley, pairing curated fashion finds with collectible reads for shoppers who love a good hunt.
