‘Is he a rock star?’ Rod Stewart stuns sleepy Vermont town as he strolls into thrift store wearing leather pants and $1,000 boots with wife Penny Lancaster

A small town in Vermont is reeling after Sir Rod Stewart came sailing into their midst – his glittering platform-soled alligator boots and leather pants suggested someone sexy was in their midst, but they had no idea who.

The 78-year-old rocker and his model wife, Penny Lancaster, caused a stir Thursday in Vergennes, a town of 2,500 on the New York border, 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Burlington.

Stewart and Lancaster turned heads as they browsed thrift stores, but no one could figure out exactly who they were.

Lauren LaBerge Taddeo, who manages the Sweet Charity thrift store, shared Seven Days VT that she noticed them immediately.

“This couple comes in and they're tall,” she said.

She told Stewart, worth an estimated $280 million, about their special offer: buy three holiday items, and they're half price.

Lauren LaBerge Taddeo, who manages the Sweet Charity thrift store and served Rod Stewart, thinking he might be Sting

'They are very sweet, beautiful people.'

One of the employees, Maggie Catillaz, asked Stewart and Lancaster if they had visited Vergennes before.

LaBerge Taddeo said, “She asked if they had been here before.

'And they said, 'No,' in a thick British accent. “We're visiting from Liverpool.”

As Catillaz told the couple the story of the store, which sells donated goods and puts profits back into the community, she began to suspect that Stewart, whose 13-year residency in Las Vegas ends in August 2024, might be more than average. thrift shopper.

Carillaz wrote a note to LaBerge Taddeo and placed it in her palm.

“Is he a rock star?” read the note. “Look at shoes.”

Stewart, who is worth an estimated $280 million, browsed thrift stores in Vermont on Thursday

The city with 2,500 inhabitants is located 32 kilometers south of Burlington, on the border with New York

LaBerge Taddeo continued, “I looked at his boots and thought, oh man, those are $1,000 boots.

“They're like alligator glitter platforms. It's not a shoe you wear casually.'

She said she looked closer to see if she recognized the music legend.

“He's tall, has spiky blond hair and a musical earring, like a treble clef,” she said.

“So now I'm really interested, like, who is it? Is it Sting?'

She said they were chatting, and Stewart showed off a bag containing a leather jacket he had just purchased at Your Turn Resale Shoppe, two doors down.

LaBerge Taddeo said she told her, “Look what I got.”

She added: “He got this leather Harley-Davidson jacket for $100. He said, 'This would be $300 in Britain.'

Stewart can be seen during a surprise performance at London's St Pancras station on December 5

Stewart and Lancaster bought two country music CDs, which meant they got a third for three.

She told the newspaper that she only realized who it was when her friend Shawna Sherwin, co-owner of Vermont HoneyLights in Bristol, wrote a message on social media asking if anyone else had seen Rod Stewart in town.

“I thought, damn, it was him,” she said, laughing.

Stewart and Lancaster told LaBerge Taddeo that they were in Vermont because they wanted to experience a white Christmas and that they will be here for the entire holiday.

“He was so charming and sweet,” she said.

However, the owner of the 3 Squares Café next door said she immediately realized that the customers who ordered two bowls of mushroom bisque and two hot teas for lunch were something special.

Andrea Lalumiere, the manager, told Seven Days that she noticed him right away because “leather pants are a big deal for Vergennes on Thursdays.”