Zach & I are both avid collectors. Thinking back on it now, when we discovered our shared love of thrifting, antiquing, and collecting, deciding to open a vintage shop was a very natural progression. As we'd go out together hunting down the things we liked, our collections began to grow (and grow, and grow, and grow!). On weekend dates we'd hit yard sales & flea markets finding cool things to scoop up.
Deciding to venture into reselling meant we could continue with our hobby & give fun pieces new homes (read our Vintage Story here). I actually think reselling helped us define our collections since we were now trying to narrow down collecting only the awesome stuff. This is the best part: we get the thrill of the hunt, get to keep a piece for a while, & then send it on to a new home. We also get to style our collections & actually showcase them. The whole storefront is filled with carefully curated items to tell stories. For us, reselling is to both develop & to downsize our collections.
Because of the move the store has been falling a bit behind & we're now down to one page of listings. That's totally unacceptable considering how much stuff I know we have to photograph! So this week, after having primed the downstairs drywall, we decided to gather a few things & snap some photos. I collected a lot of the bits & bobs laying around the upstairs and compiled them into a plastic storage bin. The bin filled up fast! Boxing all your inventory up with your other possessions & then continuing to collect means you accumulate!
We each have our own jobs with 516VINTAGE: I photograph, list, & advertise while Zach negotiates, Craigslists, & moves the heavy things! We both pick out the items for the shop either agreeing or vetoing something. We also both pick out things for our own, personal collections. Zach is always looking for radios, books, & other gadgets and I'm always looking out for anything floral, bright, & avocado green. When collecting, we not only think about ourselves but we think about styles, our shop categories, trends, & how we see the shop going in the future..
When going to flea markets, yard sales, antique stores, etc it's great to have a partner. If you're good enough together you'll have two sets of eyes looking for what you like rather than one. This, in fact, is my favorite Thrift Tip (I haven't done a thrift tip in ages!). Find a great thrifting partner & become a well oiled machine to find the best stuff!
Zach & I usually start looking together but sometimes venture off on our own. This venturing off gives us individual looking time but also helps us cover more ground. Keeping an eye out individually for both our tastes is great. But as for business, it's great to have a partner to collaborate on a purchase or veto something all together which helps narrow our collections and define the direction of our shop. Though, sometimes, fun things sneak in like a 1980's cat handled mug that just had to come home with us!
Reselling has been a great experience for us because it's something we get to do together. We also get to mix business with pleasure as we enjoy hunting down fun things & we get to find things to keep for our home. The shots in this post are candid shots from a special Monday spent together cleaning, organizing, & photographing new products. I can't wait until I have a permanent place to photograph our finds!
Do you share anything like this with your partner? What are your favorite pastimes to do together?
I couldn't do my estate sale trips without my guy - he's just amazing. He drives me around them all and does the bartering sometimes! Aside from the items that we buy to resell we both know what each other collects and always keep an eye out for each other and is why we end up with over 130 vintage vinyl records in less then four months ....
ReplyDeletemy boyfriend and i love to go to thriftstores together. and latley we love to craft.
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