And after moving to a new bigger home a couple of years ago, I needed more than decorations — I needed furniture. So I looked back to the mid-century styles of my childhood (and Mad Men ;) ), and I bought used 1960s furniture that I found on Craigslist. I love my furniture “collection.” It has unique style, it’s real wood, and obviously it can (and has) withstand the test of time.

For me, at the core I’m always a collector. One colorful knickknack always turns into more, and my furniture itches to turn into a full-blown collection. Fortunately, I realize that there’s no space for more furniture. ;)

At one point, I had a 7000 sq ft antiques store.
one of our main suppliers, an auction house, was great for quick fill in when starting up… filled the place in a month :-)

Bought table lots for $10… picked prime items out of the lot, and couldn’t figure out what to do with the rest.

Started an 18 foot long DOLLAR SHELF… all discards were simply put on 3 foot deep shelf, offered at $1 each. (that was over 250 sq feet of dollar merchandise) Always more than paid for itself.
We also sold books (tens of thousands) at $1 per pound. Have you ever sold vintage encycolpedias? tough sell, but by the pound they flew off the shelves :-)

This solved two issues. How to deal with antique “discards”…. and how to make and retain a client.

We actually tracked our dollar customers through a year… you’d be surprised at how many returned and came to spend between $100 and $1000 on other items that same year.

pfft… to the stodgy antiques dealers who made fun of us.. We’re still here. They’ve been demoted to “mall” placement only, as part-timers.

I’m here full time and loving it :-)

Chairs of any kind are a hard sell for me. Anything over $200 will sit for a long time.