Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Make your mamma proud, earn your friends esteem, and be more attractive to the opposite sex!

BE FIRST TO READ THE NOVEMBER ISSUE
OF THE NEW CENTURY COLLECTOR

Our New issue won't be in shops for a few days, but you don't need to wait for no stinkin' printing press.  Here it is, what you wait all month for.  A preview look at the November issue of the New Century Collector.

Hey, I'm an antiques dealer........ sweet!

We all love to shop.  We scavenge antiques shops, vintage shops, flea markets and yard sales, filling our homes and lives with the proceeds of our efforts.  But, if you're still hanging around the shops even after you have deposited the requisite amount of crafts, kitsch & collectibles on your walls, counters and shelves,  you need a new hobby.  And, if you could work all that shopping into a hobby, now that would be sweet.  

If you want to shop, you need to sell.  Selling is a good thing, It provides more money to shop.  It's the real "circle of life".  But, if you're like me, you don't want the selling to interfere with the shopping, or football games, or Oprah or anything else. What we need is a "cake and eat it too" kind of thing. And that, is easy. Think antiques & vintage mall.  The concept has it all.  Shop, sell, shop.  Let someone else mind the store and keep the books.  All we really want is to drop of the stuff, and pick up the check. If you think it all sound just a little too good to be true, then as your mamma would have told you, "you've got another think coming". There are hundreds of overserved collectors just like you, making a buck and letting someone else do the dirty work.  If you need to support your shopping habit, all you've go to do, is think Antiques & Vintage Mall.  

That brings me to what just might be the best new thing around.  The Smithfield Shoppes, about to open, just up the street from Logan. 



Smithfield Shoppes are a series of retail spaces along Main Street, in Smithfield Ut.  They have space available for antiques, collectibles, vintage-retro, kitsch, crafts and artisans, and they'll help you set up in your own business for a paltry hundred bucks a month.  All you've got to do is drop off a load of stuff, give the display your special touch, and let the folks at Smithfield do the grunt work.  Oh yeah, you might want to drop of another load when you pick up a check. 

Smithfield Shoppes is how you get into, or expand your antiques business. Those big green numbers above is how you call them.  

Saturday, October 15, 2011

I've landed in OZ, but at least there are only good witches!

I know this Gardner Village witch thing has been going on a long time.  I remember my kids grandmother taking them there for Halloween festivities, but this is the first time I've faced the crowd and gone myself.  I have to admit, that the whole thing struck me as just a little weird.  Halloween - kids, kids - Halloween, Not here.  It all seemed to be about hundreds of twenty & thirty something moms, all in full witch regalia, each with 3 or 4 kids in tow.  I don't know if they were mesmerized or terrorized, but each brood seemed entranced,  mouths agape at the sight of it all.  Even stranger, it seemed that every blonde witch throughout witchdom had descended on Midvale just for the celebration.  I have to admit though, the practitioners of the dark arts seemed to be having a ball.

Terrorized myself by the goings on, I diverted my eyes from the madcap surroundings , and went about the reason I was there, to visit my friend Denise Dubek, who owns Aunt Elsie's , Gardner Village's vintage shop.

 When is the last time you saw an antiques shop mobbed by customers!

Even here, most of the shoppers seemed far from Kansas, but the local witches seemed to be falling under Aunt Elsie's spell.  Denise, whose motto is recycle, re-purpose & re-love, mixes her own brew of antiques, collectibles and vintage goods, "witch" is hard to resist.  

My wife Lyn continues her trek towards Nirvana

Selecting religious artifacts takes time and practice.

All in all, we had a great time. It's always nice to stop by and see Denise and her staff. I got an eyeful of witch world, and Lyn was herself bewitched by Aunt Elsie's.  She didn't leave empty handed, but, there's still plenty stuff for the next religious fanatic.  By the way, the witches will be back tonight,  so, it's a good opportunity to see if you can scare up a treasure of two at Aunt Elsie's!








Saturday, October 8, 2011

Into each life a little rain must fall


RAIN DELAY

 
If you went to the "Flea-ette" sale in Pleasant Grove today, you probably found yourself standing all alone in the rain.

Well, grab a towel, dry your tears, and get ready to go back.  The sale has been rescheduled for next Saturday,  October 15th.  Same flea time, same flea location.  

Since your out anyway, why not head to your favorite antiques shop.  Most have roofs to protect the goodies, and you don't want to go home empty handed.

Friday, October 7, 2011

I walked into the house with a little "green" on my shoe!

Antiques, Our Green Obsession
by Dennis Barker 

We were out kicking around a few sales with our grand daughter last weekend, when she encountered something she could not quite figure out.  There was much about this object to pique her interest.  The bright red color, the numbered dial which when turned made the curious clicking sound.  It seemed at the same time, familiar and foreign.  Her examination of the old telephone soon brought the expected inquiry.  “What’s this for grandpa”?   

This “retro” 1960’s plastic western electric desk phone now resides in my basement.  Admittedly, waiting to be hooked up, but saved from the local dump, where it would take over 400 years to decompose.   

If it were not for the antiques collector’s obsession with all things old, we would find our landfills to be far more cluttered places.  Our love of these old objects drives us to preserve, restore & reuse as many items from our past as we can collectively get our hands on.  We incorporate these treasures into our lives for their esthetic, decorative or utilitarian uses, enriching our lifestyles and saving the energy and natural resources that would be expended, had we discarded these historic items in favor of newly manufactured goods.   We are truly among America’s ecological good guys.


Each time we drag home an old oak dresser, desk or bookcase, not only do we save a tree, we are additionally rewarded with increased beauty in our surroundings and a sense of continuity with our past.  We remind ourselves that “made of wood” does not really mean sawdust and resin, and that “built to last “,  at one time,  meant just that. 


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Please don't let the Gypsy's eat me mommy!

Into each life, a little rain must fall.  So, Brenda at Just a Bed of Roses has postponed her scheduled Oct 6th Gypsy MOON-scare at the fair" Open House,  and will instead hold the open house over the weekend, Sat: Oct. 8th  10:30-6:00 and Monday Oct. 8th (Columbus day) 10:30-6:00.  You can "stroll the midway", consult a psychic/taro card reader, or browse the sales tables.  


  
Grab a spoon with a discount card attached to see if the Gypsy's are going to be generous.


This is all way past my pay grade. I haven't a clue what it all means, but my crystal ball predicts fun.

Those doggone flea's are givin' me the itch............ to shop that is!

Looks like Paula Perkin's and her flea friends will be "bugging" out of Payson for a sale at Simply Splendid, a Pleasant Grove Boutique & Bistro. 


This downsized Flea-o-logy sale (dubbed Flea-ette) will feature fewer dealers, but apparently more food.  Shop, eat, shop, eat, eat, eat, shop....  I don't know what to do first, I guess that's why god gave us two hands. The fun starts October 8th, 9:00 am until 3:00 pm, on the grounds of Simply splendid, 67 South Main Street in Pleasant Grove.

Monday, October 3, 2011

I can just see this guy twisting his mustache!

There aren't many things about the antique's business that I don't find amusing on one level or another.   An antiques shop closing after more than 25 years in business, so a building can be used for what the owner mistakenly perceives as a more "gentrified" or  "upscale" use is definitely one of them.

That's what's happening to long time friend and antiques dealer Belinda Heise, who along with her Mother Gloria Chappell, own COBWEBS ANTIQUES.  After almost 25 years, her landlord has given Belinda a rather villainous 30 day's notice to close her business, so he can turn the space into an "art gallery".  Most likely, stucco and schlock art, which passes for "upscale" these days. 

Enough of a rant.  Anyway, as in most calamities, one persons loss becomes another's gain. The situation is forcing Belinda & Gloria to liquidate the contents of their shop, with a whopping 50% off sale.  If you haven't been to Cobwebs, take a look. Here's their page from the New Century collector website "inside information" section.


As you can see, the joint is stuffed with vintage jewelry, glassware and goodies.  And of course they have plenty of their trademark "star wars" collectibles.  Sale starts on Thursday October 6th, and will continue until they have to pack up and get out.  Lets all go down and help Belinda clear the shelves.