Market season.
You are rapidly approaching.
Only 2 weeks until I’ll be setting up my booth at Vintage Market Days Birmingham. Im excited to get back to markets after being “off” for the winter season. I’ve been working really hard to get only the best vintage treasures I can find to offer at VMD Birmingham.
I’d like to share my why’s with you. Why do I feel so passionate about saving vintage items and offering items at a low price? Let’s go back to 1983… I was a young newly married girl at 18 years old. 1984 still newly married now 19 and pregnant! We were poor! I mean trailer that’s falling down poor. Everything we owned was a freebie from someone. We wanted better for our daughter so fast forward to 1990. With hard work we now lived in a nice small home, now there were two children and we could afford the necessities of life but not much more. I learned to buy nice things only when they were on sale. Now the year 2000 has arrived. We’ve moved from Alabama to Georgia and now Virginia. We now have four children. Three boys. One girl. We can afford nicer things at this point but I remember being poor and unable to purchase nice things. It was around this time I found my first flea market! I wondered why wouldn’t everyone purchase decor and furniture from the flea market? I found wonderful things for such good prices. The neglected became my favorite pieces. You know the ones; scratched, falling apart! They spoke to me! They needed rescuing. They need preserving. They represented my past but all I could see was what they could be. If given a bit of love and attention these items became better than new. The furniture was made to last with the best materials available unlike modern day furniture that uses the cheapest materials but cost a good penny. A hobby was born. 2003 Tennessee, I scoured thrift stores and flea markets for the neglected ones with beautiful bones. I would repair, repurpose and reuse everything I could then sell it at the best price I could. Just enough to cover my costs and give me a little change so I could purchase another piece. In around 2008 a dear friend encouraged me to have a booth in her store. A business was born! It’s now 2023! I’m still searching for the best items at low prices. Pieces I can upgrade to usable beautiful decor and furniture pieces. I remember the years when I could only afford secondhand items. And I still see beauty and possibilities in neglected items! So when I price my beautiful vintage treasures, I think about that girl so long ago. The one who longed for beautiful things. She would want me to keep in mind that if I price things reasonably maybe just maybe someone with not much to spend can have beautiful things for their home. This business is not about making money. It’s about providing the best I can at reasonable prices.
Thank you to my great customers who allow me to continue creating beautiful vintage treasures!
