Meet Carol Orr, a vintage store owner in New Haven, Connecticut.
As a trained Landscape Architect, the downturn of the economy in 2008 had a devastating effect on my husband's architecture business as well as mine. Several years earlier we had purchased a commercial building in downtown New Haven, but we were unsuccessful at finding a tenant for the first floor retail. Needing to bring income in to pay the mortgage and bills, I cleaned out my personal stash of found vintage items and set up shop. As a child, my mother and I would go out junking on weekends. She was an interior designer and had a great eye. Luckil,y I found a spouse who enjoyed the same hobby. Needless to say I had plenty of stored ‘inventory’ to start with.
I like to think we have a Vintage Department Store. (We have 6000 square feet of selling space.) We carry just about everything from clothing to housewares to fabrics and notions as well as furniture. Our collection spans the gamut of eras and styles. Because we are in a college town, we try to keep our collection useful and affordable, although we don’t shy away from high-end collectibles either.
We are well known throughout the area for our front window displays as well as our knack at merchandising our vast varied collection.
As for the clothing, I personally prefer the styles from the '40s through '60s, although we stray on either side of those eras. Having grown up in the' 80s and '90,s I can’t imagine why they are back in style. (I thought they were awful then too.) But I certainly don’t want to disappoint our main clientele, the students, so we do have plenty of '8’s throughout the early 2000s too.
I love being a shop owner but it is a 7 day a week job. My favorite part is sourcing the goodies and I really don’t mind all the soaking, washing and ironing either. The hardest part is inventory management as everything is one of a kind. We actually barcode everything down to the last spool of thread so it’s a bit tedious at times.
When Maeve ( a Thrilling ambassador) came through town and introduced Thrilling as an option for online vintage sales I jumped on it. We have been selling on Etsy for many years but, as you well know, there are many issues with that venue. I feel they don’t give vintage as much attention as they do the handmade aspect of their site, and, personally, their algorithms are really messed up. (I find it hard to shop on the site as well.) I’m excited about Thrilling as it is devoted to vintage and will draw vintage only lovers.
I would say that 98% of our collection comes from local sources in about a 15-mile radius of New Haven. There is a treasure trove of houses in the area that remain intact for the past 50 to 70 years -- many still owned by the original family. Oftentimes, we will get some great stories from family members about the pieces we buy.