Chain store shoppers who long to be chic – but aren’t finding what they need at the Gap – now have a savior.
Tracey Morgan aims to rescue gals who don’t own a single “re-engineered” T-shirt and think mod is a 1970s sitcom character.
Her new shopping tour, called “Retail Therapy” in a nod to Morgan’s full-time gig as a shrink, takes the uninitiated on a fashion safari into the untamed wilds of East Village boutiques and vintage stores, armed with only a special discount card and the will to get hip.
“The last time I was in the East Village I was dating an undercover narcotics cop who took me out to dinner there,” laughed Valerie Valentine Herron, 35, a social worker who lives in Inwood. “That was 15 years ago!”
She’s a mall shopper who buys most of her wardrobe at Ann Taylor.
“I’m terribly conservative,” she confessed, but this weekend she’s on her third Retail Therapy tour.
“The first time I went I spent $75 and came home with two sweaters, a necklace and a camisole. The second time, it was pretty disgusting what I spent!”
She said Morgan’s keen eye – along with the infectious enthusiasm of the group shopping experience, made her try on clothes she wouldn’t normally consider – like the sexy A. Cheng evening dress she bought for $350.
“If I weren’t with the other women, with all the cameraderie that was created by the tour, I wouldn’t have bought it,” said Valentine Herron.
Today’s tour is the fourth Morgan has run since deciding to turn her passion into a business. She charges $150 for the half-day excursion, and participants get reduced prices at all the boutiques on the route.
“I was raised a severe shopper by my mother,” said Morgan, 40, whose friends were always asking her where she bought her outfits – “I was like a walking referral service,” she laughs – and now she’s charging for it.
It works like this: Morgan takes around a dozen women to eight East Village designer-operated stores, including Meg, Yona Lee, Omash and Anna. The group arrives before opening hours, so there’s privacy and the designers are often there to help with fashion advice.
The result is a female bonding experience and a chance to punish the plastic guilt-free.
“These were women I hadn’t met before, but in the process of ripping our clothes off and saying, ‘How does this make my t–s look?’ we were really having a good time together,” said Heidi Deruitter, 33, a Manhattan filmmaker.
“I wouldn’t have guessed this about myself, but I really did enjoy going with the group,” says Mara de Gennaro, 30, an Upper West Side Ph.D student who usually shops at Banana Republic.
“I’d never been to a vintage boutique before,” she said.
Annie Piper, 36, a West Village theater director and yoga teacher said the women challenge each other to experiment with their style.
“People who don’t know you don’t know what your style is, so they hold up a shirt and say, ‘You’d look great in this,’ ” she said. “It’s a collective giddiness that’s really fun.”
After shopping, the gals head to Prune for brunch, where their purchases are hand-delivered by a strapping delivery boy.
“You’re sitting at the table and Mr. Handsome comes down the stairs with all your bags,” said Morgan.
“It’s great, because you don’t remember what you bought, so it’s like Christmas when he brings your stuff!” Piper laughed.
The $150 tour includes a minimum 10 percent discount at each store, brunch and delivery of your bags. Call (212) 387-7924 or visit http://www.retailtherapy.us.


