Recently I mentioned that I am always on the lookout for prime locations for new shop space. Today I want to discuss what to look for when you, as an aspiring Antique Vendor, are scoping out space in an Antique Mall.

Of all the business models I’ve experimented with, I tend to like the Antique Mall (sometimes called a Group Shop) best. But how does one choose? Here’s what I look for when searching for a new home for my Vendor space.

Antique Shop Owner

I look for a like-minded person who conveys an aura of hospitality. After all, this isn’t just junk. I offer unique artifacts used to create a warm and inviting atmosphere in someone’s home. I look for friendliness, creativity, and enthusiasm. Does the shopkeeper love what she does? Does she appreciate and see the charm of these rusty items, or does she just see a pile of junk for sale? Is the owner hard working?

The owner should be the face of the business, not an absentee landlord. Is she dependable, is she open when she says she’s going to be open? Are the shop hours sufficient to capture impulse shoppers and regulars alike? Is she savvy, fair and trustworthy in business dealings with vendors and customers?

Antique Mall Location

If an antique shop is a destination unto itself, it can reside in the woods, far up a back road. But most shops benefit from high visibility to get their customer traffic. Does the shop you occupy have high visibility and a pleasant outside aesthetic? Does the building have curb appeal? How about adequate parking for vendors to load and unload product, and plenty of space for customers, so they aren’t intimidated by the lack of parking spaces, and keep on driving to another shop a few miles up the road.

Proximity to Home

Ideally your shop space is close enough to home that you can service your space one or two times a week. By that I mean, replenish stock that has left a gaping hole in your displays, or remove an item that has simply taken up space for the past month, with little or no interest from buyers. Sometime it may be to simply “Fluff it up”, because you were driving by.

You may choose to have more than one antique shop. Presently I have one space 20 minutes from home, and I have another one a half-hour in the opposite direction. This is very manageable, though it would be ideal if they were in the same direction, because I could hit them both in the same day.

There have been times when the ideal store for me has been over an hour drive from home. When business is booming, this is OK, but if business is marginal, a two-hour round trip, gasoline, tolls and more can quickly make the situation intolerable.

Vendor Churn

Visit the shop several times. Observe how many empty spaces there are. How many booths are offering steep discounts, or moving sales? If that number is high, that is not good. Is there a waiting list to get space? If so, that may be a good sign. It means people aren’t eager to leave. Are a disproportionate number of the booths occupied by the owner? If so, it might mean that they can’t satisfy enough vendors to keep them in the shop.

Customer Traffic

We already addressed automotive traffic in the previous section, but what about customer traffic? Is the parking lot always empty when you drive by? When you stop in the store to look around, are you the only customer in the store for 20-30 minutes? If so, beware. The more eyeballs that see your stuff, the better chance you have of selling. If no one’s there, no one’s buying. If you see customers, observe whether they buy, or simply kick the tires and walk out empty-handed.

Days and Hours Open for Business

How many days a week a this antique mall is open for business can vary. Is the shop open on weekends? What time does it open? If it only opens at noon, that might be problematic. Does the shopkeeper view this as a real business (moving inventory and profitability), or is it a hobby (labor of love and a social outlet). I would suggest you don’t want to bet your bottom line with a hobbyist.

In recent years I’ve observed some shop owners strive to create a sense of scarcity, being open only one weekend a month. Yes, two days only. These are marketed as “events”. Such a business model does tend to stimulate a great deal of traffic and shopping activity in a short period of time. However, if you wish to participate in such a venture, there is a great deal of work involved in getting all your product to the shop for two days, and then removing it all to bring back to your own storage for the next 28 days.

Web & Social Media Presence

The olden days of advertising in a monthly regional antique/collectible dealer newspaper are history. Yes, some still exist, but they are expensive, and they are seldom timely. Does your antique mall still send expensive post cards to your mailbox to stick on your fridge to remind you of the big event on Black Friday? Does your shop owner have an e-mail list? Even better – does the shop owner allow you to collect e-mail subscribers within your own booth?

Good shops have a professional Facebook page and manage it daily to keep readers interested in the new arrival of products, and to constantly remind shoppers that cool stuff is “hit or miss”, so you gotta keep on top of things for fear of missing out (FOMO). In addition to Facebook, better shops have their own website, and their own domain.  And the best shops use Facebook and their webpage in concert with professional e-mail reminders of special events and to create a tribe of savvy shoppers, who get the news first on new arrivals.

Price Points & Customer Demographics

Some markets cater to a higher-end clientele that have no issue with paying premium pricing. Other markets prefer moderate/fair pricing. Others, are just plain cheap, avoid these at all costs. If a shop is perceived as simply an indoor flea market or yard sale – run! These shoppers place no value on what you have, all they want to do is deal. I could include links to sites or Facebook pages that would illustrate each of these scenarios, but I don’t want the negativity.

Often times this is less a matter of geography and more of a mindset conveyed by the shopkeeper. Which leads to my next point.

Beware of the “Sale Mentality”

Some shop owners think having a “Sale” is the way to drive business. They are eager to promote “Sales” to get buyers into the door, to buy your stuff at a discount. But the shop owner is still getting full price on the rent from all the vendors. Some even expect vendors to be on site to help “man the store”. If you pay rent, then have to discount your products, bake cookies and work at the counter, then I have a cheaper business model for you. Put your stuff on the curb with a “Free Stuff” sign on it. It will be much less work, for the same profit.

Similar Design Aesthetics

If you step into a shop and the booths all look just a little too similar, odds are that the owner is occupying most of the space. If the booths vary in the types of collections and presentations, then this visual diversity suggests many creative vendors are present.

Either way, you want to be in a space with similar quality merchandise. You want variety, yet similar. You want to see merchandise that is clean, gently worn to show its age and character, yet serviceable or displayable.

Summary

There you have it. 10 tips about what I look for when I’m scouting out new antique shop space. These are not hard and fast rules, but they are guidelines that will give you a starting point when you begin exploring antique mall alternatives in your area.

If you have any additional ideas to share, please add them to the comments section below.

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Spring is a fascinating time of the year in New England. One day it is sunny and temperatures are in the sixties. The next day you awaken to find frost on the windshield. Today is cold and rainy.

As the seasons change, so does the decor in The Cottage. Heavyweight insulating curtains give way to lighter and breezier fabrics and colors. The curtains are also pulled back to permit more sunlight as the days grow longer.

Another thing that changes in the cottage is the decorating of the fireplace. Usually, I keep an electric woodstove inside the fireplace to provide the illusion of a fire, without the smoke, ash, and mess of firewood.

In the Spring and Summer months, the fireplace remains a focal point in the room, but fire is no longer a factor.

Today I layered a few choice wooden furnishings in front of the fireplace to play off the lakeside cottage theme. These items will complement the thick pine mantle.

I began with a well-worn pine blanket chest, and I topped it off with a pine box filled with aged croquet balls that I have collected over the years. They are fun items to use as points of interest in baskets, boxes, and bowls.

I filled a dough bowl with another dozen balls and placed it beneath the chest. But I still needed a large item to close the gap between the top of the chest and the bottom of the mantle.

I found just the thing to fill the space with a balanced proportion, but also to provide a link to the lakeside cottage vibe of our home. I recently came upon a vintage hand-painted sign from a local family camp. Apparently the property has changed hands and the sign was left behind.

Heaven only knows how long this arrangement will remain intact. I get a bee in my bonnet some mornings and a few hours later the whole house looks different.

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We’re about 2/3rds of the way through winter. It’s been an easy winter so far. A few snowstorms, but nothing that’s been a showstopper. At the moment, we’re in the midst of a cold snap (4 degrees Fahrenheit this morning).

We’re native New Englanders, so this is nothing we can’t handle, but we are beginning to think about Spring. It would be nice to put Charles to work in the back yard and gardens before he disappears for months on daily motorcycle excursions to Southern New Hampshire.

After our morning coffee, Charles was exploring in our dining room. He came upon several arrangements and vignettes that I have staged prior to rolling them out at the shop.

He likes to shoot in the natural night, so many shots just don’t work, depending upon the time of day.

The days are getting longer, daylight is increasing, the sun is getting warmer. So Spring will be here in short order. In the meantime, I’ll keep my eye on the weather and start preparing the HoneyDo list for Charles. The challenge is where I can place it, so he cannot ignore it.

Welcome to the latest version of the Suzanne’s Cottage website. This iteration is different in a couple ways. This 5th generation of the site offers a new visual aesthetic.  Secondly, new articles will reflect my bias as a dealer. There will be more articles dealing with life as a picker and a reseller of recycled and repurposed treasures. Trust me, it’s not as adventurous and exciting as reality TV would have you believe.

The Antiques and Collectibles business has evolved drastically over the past several decades. Charles and I began our quest as we struggled to furnish our old home almost fifty years ago. We didn’t want the manufactured commodity furniture that was available in the large furniture stores like Leavitt’s (remember them?), or Jordan’s.  So we took off to the countryside in search of cool mismatched pieces that created a home.

Every weekend we visited flea markets in Southern New Hampshire, Central Massachusetts, and Southern Maine, in search of just the right piece. We’d know it when we saw it. And it was eerie how we usually gravitated to the same pieces. 

We ended up with time worn pine pieces that you could put your feet upon after a hard days work. Your kids could run toy trucks over them and it simply added to the patina, no worries. Hunting for stuff was fun, When we first began, we copied or at least tried to emulate the design elements we saw in magazines. Eventually, our style evolved into our own. A style that is impossible to pigeonhole. 

Eventually we ended up finding stuff that was too cool to toss in the dumpster, so we saved it. Eventually our home was furnished and appointed with many fascinating artifacts from days gone by. Some things grew into collections. Some items were more seasonal in nature, so we ended up with Spring/Summer decor, and Autumn/Winter decor. 

Seasonal decor was much more than simply changing curtains and slip covers. Furnishings, and furniture placement changed. Key design elements and vignettes matched the season. Was our attention focused outside on the pond and gardens? Or were we turning inward towards the fireplace and the large stuffed chair with the throw blankets? This is my palette. Charles considers my decorating to be like sculpture, since it a three dimensional visual and tactile presentation.

With so much collecting, and seasonal decorating always taking place, we decided it was time to unload a few items. So about ten years ago I began either consigning items or renting space in group shops. This was not simply to free up space in the basement, but also as an outlet for flipping “Road Gold”. Those are the items you see at the end of some country driveway that has a cardboard sign that proclaims, “FREE!”.

This is the point where I instruct Charles to turn around and go back, as he rolls his eyes and reminds me that it is not my lot in life to be the curator of all the cool junk in the world. But he is wrong, that is exactly my mission. Even if I have no use for it, if it is a cool piece that is serviceable or a candidate for repurposing, I’ll find somebody who will love it and give it a home.

Note: This was a surprise. I just discovered this post I wrote almost a year ago and forgot to publish it. So it’s back in season.

We managed to make it into mid-January before we experienced seasonally cold and inclement winter weather.

Earlier this week, we had about 3 inches of powder, accompanied by extremely high winds and frigid temperatures.

This evening, the forecast is for freezing rain changing to snow, ending at noontime tomorrow. But you didn’t tune in to Suzanne’s Cottage for the weather forecast, did you?

This old grinding wheel has followed us around for Charles’ entire life. It used to be in his father’s barn when he was a kid. When the farm was sold and the barn was razed, this is one of the few items that Charles salvaged.

The wooden frame rotted away, yet the grinding wheel and the iron crank still make delightful presentation in the garden, whether it’s surrounded by hostas, or freshly fallen snow.

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A Rusty Backdrop for Nature’s Snow Sculpture

Friday’s wet snow adhered to everything it touched, for a couple days. This included road signs, power lines, tree limbs, and rusty yard art. In this case, it created a fascinating, yet temporary snow sculpture.

This photo is a cool cast iron treadle powered scroll saw that I planted in the garden. Perhaps you’ll see it again, in the spring, when the snow is a distant memory, and the flowers are in bloom. One can only hope…

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