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So I did a really cool thing today! I rented a space in this store called “Artique”. The name is kinda lame in my opinion…but the store itself is awesome. It’s a mix of vintage and handmade sellers…like an in-person etsy. They’ve been open for ten years now and have expanded a ton and are super busy…especially heading into the holiday season. I rented a very small space for $120/month. It’s kinda pricey but I have lots of plans to make the space super efficient. So far I’ve calculated that I can fit roughly $1500-$2500 worth of items in the space. I also rented out a tiny part of my tiny space to my mom. She’s giving me $20/ month for one small display rack. She makes potholders that are super cute so I hope she sells some stuff. So then I’m only paying $100/month.
Just wondering if anyone has done this before? This place seems super nice and flexible. You can build and paint and do whatever you want to your rented space. My dad is luckily an incredible woodworker…he owns his own business restoring antique pool tables (and is one of maybe 5 people in the world that know how to do this) so he and I are going to spend a day in his shop making custom shelving.
They don’t take a commission off of anything you sell-you just pay them rent, they sell your items and keep the tags and send you a check at the end of the month. I think I’m going to try to keep my long tail items on etsy-things that are weird but I’m willing to hold onto for a year so that one person finds that specific thing they’re willing to pay $100 for….and then in the retail space I’m willing to flip things for less but move things more quickly. I’m gonna have a couple items in the retail space that are just a total pain to ship (I have this antique glass bird with a tail thats about a foot long and a quarter inch thick for example haha). It’s technically a co-op so you’re required to work 12 hours per month for free-but I’m excited about that part. You get to interact with buyers and meet other like-minded people. In December you have to work 24 hours in that month because they are so busy-but that makes sense to me too. It’s a 6 month contract overall.
I’m not full time with etsy and I think this is a good way to build my business without taking as much time as it takes to source, photograph, list, ship everything. I can load up my car with a bunch of stuff I buy and drive 25 minutes-set it all up and leave.
My plan is to keep waitressing for a while because it’s what I’m really freaking good at. I’m working at a brand new restaurant downtown that’s pretty pricey and I average about $40/hour on a busy shift. But by the time I’m like 35 I’ll probably just be physically exhausted from it because it really is such hard work. I’m 26 now, so I’m giving myself almost ten years to build up this business. Then I can “retire” from waitressing and do this full time. My husband doesn’t really “get it” but he’s supportive and he will see!!!! He just doesnt’t have the vision. But that’s okay because I do haha.
Anyone have any experiences renting a space somewhere like this?? Hope everyone is well and excited for the holiday season!!!
Emma; Doris Lorraine Vintage
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I rent a glass cabinet in a shop in Melbourne. Derbyshire, which is in a 14th century stable block attached to the Hall. So all the antiques in the shop are about 500 years younger than the building!
The rent’s £55 (70 USD) and there’s no commission on sales. The cabinet is a standard IKEA-type, and a bit small (the shelves are 12 inches square). I share the cabinet with a friend who sells jewellery (that’s the top-shelf stuff) and tat (only she doesn’t call it tat).
Items are priced high by the owners. In fact I often let them set the prices, ‘cos they complain when I price things too cheap, and also when I forget to take the thrift-shop labels off.
The clientele seems to be dealers and passers-by. The shop’s on the route to the teashop, and the area’s popular with walkers. It doesn’t seem to get the “destination” trade that an antiques fair would get, although the owners are building up a trade in repairing and selling clocks. Which is surprising, as the market for grandfather clocks is supposed to have died off.
They also have a cabinet full of Crown Derby paperweights, which are the Beanie Babies of the English lower middle classes- loads of different animal shapes hand-daubed in Imari style. Experience the horror!
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Thanks guys!! I’m hoping it goes well but also not trying to get my hopes up too much at the same time haha. Maybe I’ll post a month to month update if people are interested. I went today to take measurements and it’s pretty sizeable! I can fit a lot of stuff in it for sure. It’s about 8 feet tall, 4 and a half feet wide, and 4 feet deep. With custom shelving and focusing on selling a lot of “smalls”, I’m hopeful to pack it with cute stuff and turn a good profit. We shall see!! Now the only trouble is finding a babysitter while I go build shelves and paint and set things up for hours on end this week….lol.
well! 10:36 on halloween night and my 4 year old is bouncing off the walls so I’m gonna go attempt to put him in bed!!! Hope everyone had a nice Halloween! 🙂
Emma
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Congrats! We buy/sell antiques as well, and had a space in an antique mall, up until last July when we moved, and it became too cumbersome to manage (3hrs away).
Our space was 8 1/2′ x 10′ and we paid $220/mo, plus 15% commission. Most months, it worked really well for us. Gave us an avenue to sell bigger pieces without having to set up and tear down for a two-day weekend sale. The nice thing was once we carried something into the mall, in most cases, we didn’t have to futz around with carrying it out. One way trip!
We sold a variety of items in our space; everything from $5 vintage books to $800 oak furniture pieces. In our experience, the small odds and ends generally covered our rent and expenses, the bigger pieces ($100+) were our income.
One tip for you; rotate, re-arrange, or re-organize your space at least somewhat, every few weeks. There are a lot of regulars through most antique malls, and if nothing appears to be different from the last time they saw your space, they won’t take the time to look. Moving your items around from time to time really helped keep our numbers up.
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