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Scenes from the Winchester Road shop Curate. Photos by Tiffany Combs
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Scenes from the Winchester Road shop Curate. Photos by Tiffany Combs
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Scenes from the Winchester Road shop Curate. Photos by Tiffany Combs
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Scenes from the Winchester Road shop Curate. Photos by Tiffany Combs
A wise boss once told me “shopping like a magpie in your own backyard” has many benefits. Think afternoons spent in a few choice local antiques stores, combing shelves of dusty silver plate sugar jars and delft candlesticks, and inspecting (oh, so hopefully) the legs of a chair that would be perfect if it were only dressed in a different, less chintzy, fabric. Think of the kind of afternoon when you’ve committed to peddling around town to stores you know but don’t visit as often as you could...not knowing what you’ll find, but knowing you’ll find something you not only love but also need.
As an interior decorator – whether working on my own home or a client’s – I spend many an afternoon enveloping myself in local vintage, antique and secondhand stores. If I make the time and play my cards right, I can often find that “never before seen” object that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for – and oftentimes at a much better price than I’ll find online.
Beautiful things, as we all know, can be found at any price – you’ve just got to know where to look and, more often than not, who to talk to while you’re there.
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Author and interior designer David Bazner’s home (pictured on this page) features a variety of vintage-fueled vignettes. Photo by Tiffany Combs
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Author and interior designer David Bazner’s home (pictured on this page) features a variety of vintage-fueled vignettes. Photo by Tiffany Combs
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Author and interior designer David Bazner’s home (pictured on this page) features a variety of vintage-fueled vignettes. Photo by Tiffany Combs
Vested Interest
The unique nature of the items found when shopping at local secondhand stores – as opposed to mass-produced big box stores – is only one of many advantages to furnishing a home in this manner. Among the other advantages of shopping from small local businesses is the shop owners often have a vested interest in what they’re selling.
“People [who] own and work at smaller, independent stores often have such a strong, specific knowledge of the pieces they carry, as well as a genuine love for them,” notes Sheila Omer Ferrell, executive director of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, and organizer of its annual Antiques & Garden Show. And, for her, this improves the overall shopping experience “in a deeply satisfying way,” by making her feel even more connected to the community she believes in.
One could say Ferrell’s point of view is, by definition, retail therapy at its finest hour – a kind of therapy achieved by doing nothing more than poking around a few stores on a Saturday between lunch at Dudley’s and a matinee at the Kentucky Theatre. To regularly browse for things in person, and to chat with the person running the show can be as rewarding as buying that special something. It’s taking part in an activity that is much greater than the aesthetic appeal of the goods for sale.
One creates a dialogue when shopping this way, which can easily be transformed into a winning narrative within the walls of one’s own home. Every penny counts but so do the places those pennies go. I’ve oftentimes stopped to check in with myself before purchasing something and asked what exactly is it that I’m investing my pennies in: An object? An experience? Or both?
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Scout Antique & Modern is one of many local spots to find one-of-a-kind items. Hunting through the shop can be as rewarding as finding that perfect item you’re looking for. Photo by Bradley Quinn
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Scout Antique & Modern is one of many local spots to find one-of-a-kind items. Hunting through the shop can be as rewarding as finding that perfect item you’re looking for. Photo by Bradley Quinn
Keep it Green
Shopping for vintage goods and antiques in your own community is, more often than not, the “greener” option. There’s no cross country or international shipping involved with shopping local, and as local vintage buyer Freddie Chappell says, “you’re reusing something.”
As a buyer for Scout Antique & Modern and co-owner of Curate, a new experiential retail shop with a special focus on mid-century home furnishings, Chappell makes his living in the art of reusing things.
“If you’re buying an authentic mid-century piece in wood,” he says, “the tree it took to make it was cut 50 or 60 years ago, so you’re not claiming any additional natural resources like you do when you buy new.”
More Food for Thought, from Some of Our Favorite Local Vintage Aficionados:
“Supporting local businesses keeps Lexington unique. Corporate stores can definitely have their place in daily life, but local options add flavor to the community landscape — and in a vintage store’s case, it can add flavor to your home and wardrobe.”
--Candace Reichbach, owner of The Domestic
“A lot of people come to us for authentic mid- century products, and a lot of times there’s value in these things that builds over time, whether that’s from a financial standpoint or otherwise.”
--Jeff Perkins, owner of Scout Antique and Modern
“Growing up in a family-owned business since 1955, it really means a lot to me to shop local. When small, locally owned places go out of business ... well, there goes the personality of the community.”
--Jon Carloftis, Jon Carloftis Fine Gardens