whats the cottage shabby store scene?

[greenoak]

can you give me a retail report from your area? any neat stores in the cottage or romantic or shabby areas... are there many doing well? whats selling....do you patronized a neat store? whats it like...


also what are you seeing in the mall area...craft antique cottage tyoes...

im sure you guys know that independant stores are having a rough time right now with china, dollar general, and the internet all pushing in on them..

thanks

ann of greenoak

www.greenoakantiques.com

[Kathy Ann]

There's 3 kinds of places in this part of Maine where you can get shabby/cottage:

1. Salvage shops, but forget about bargain prices because these folks know what they have!

2. Stores where it looks like they're getting their stuff from the Commodities LTD catalog

3. Stores that sell brand name "collectibles". What a racket! Like anyone is ever going to make a dollar on Boyd's Bears!

I shop 50 miles away in Wiscasset, at the junkiest store possible. Stores that are "done up" and in nice areas have to raise their prices to support that.

[Lynzee]

Shopping locally is pretty limited. "Progress", as local gov refers to it, is upon us full force. Beach properties that have often been in families for decades are rapidly being bought out by developers and towering condominiums are going up so rapidly it's mind boggling. From what I've seen, stores/shops in the area are responding to that by offering very high end, vacation home, "condo package" items where things are sold in "sets" that include the pictures, rugs, lamps, etc. :confused: Also, the majority of the antique stores in the area are just that.

Since I've been here, there have been several "antique malls" that have opened (and closed rather quickly) but, as Kathy Ann said, forget bargain prices. There are a couple of shops (that I know of) left, but they're either pricey or they're selling the same name brand collectibles. Seems like the best way to shop these days is to go to yard sales being held by the homeowners who have sold to developers since many of the houses/cottages being sold now were built (and furnished) in the 30s and 40s. If I'm really looking to shop though, I travel 350 miles to Jacksonville.

Lynz

[Alicia]

Hi,
When I was in Wemberley, Texas this weekend-- They have market day once a month-- the vendors that were selling rusted wrought iron ,old wood products, etc had the most business. People came with shopping carts and loaded up, incl. myself-
In the town -- you could see that shop owners were buying, fixing, painting the items and selling them for triple the price-- and they were still a good price.
Jewelry, clothing, art , new crafts were not faring so well.
Alicia
http://www.AliciaTappDesigns.com

[Casual Cottage]

Here in Fort Wayne, we don't have alot of stores catering to the shabby/cottage style; however, the small "used furniture" shops where I used to find great finds for a small price have figured out what everyone is looking for and now prices are high.....especially if you are looking to buy, paint and resell. We do have one great antique shop that is owned by a lady who has been at the same location for years and years. She has so much stuff that you literally have to move items to make a path to the other side of the room. I love shopping there....it must be the thrill of the hunt. One idea that many have gone to is junking or "dumpster diving". My son and his wife would take their truck and scope out different neighborhoods on "trash day eve". It's amazing what people will throw away! I've never had the nerve to do this, but my son brought me several treasures by doing this...for free!

[ttg]

What an interesting thread this is; I'm delighted to have found the forum.
I live just outside of Dallas, Texas. I'm not sure if shabby is just coming in or already on the way out. Cutesy country which included handpainted roses and was often referred to as "Victorian" hit hard here a few years back. I wonder sometimes if shabby is not too akin to the former trend to captivate this group.

I sell on eBay, mostly handpainted roses, and they appear to have some lasting power or at least a dedicated following. For a while, anything in roses, no matter how good or whether gosh-awful found a buyer. I watched wondering when the market would become completely saturated. Though there are still many hopefuls, with more hope than talent, testing the water - there does seem to be a cycle. They try hard for awhile, lose money on the product and disappear to be replaced by a new hopeful.

If only I could paint faster, *laughing*, I think I could do quite well. My husband also does Canton, Texas First Monday once a month. It is heralded as the largest fleamarket in the W O R L D and it very well may be. He does fine with painted vintage furniture l - but finding high dollar buyers for handpainted roses is difficult there. We've been told it is only a matter of location, location, location. So we are trying to make a change.

I'm especially gratified to hear that natural and richer wood tones are moving gracefully into the shabby genre. For too long, I've watched all of the white furniture - so often paired with wood floors - and personally considered white against the wood as too stark a contrast - rendering it almost "institutional" in look. I much prefer cremes, colors, lots of antiquing, anything but stark white.

[greenoak]

canton sounds great.... i dont care for clean stark white either...

we have seen roses for a long time too..and as an antique dealer i can say they have been popular in every decade...on plates, linens and furniture and appliques and pictures and paintings... its a pretty safe flower...


. for here we do lots better with plain shabby white and now plain plack furniture..and granny apple green....both rubbed or sanded back a bit ... but decorative painting on furniture just wont move for us....

would love to see your stuff...ive only been here a couple weeks and i have learned so much..


ann

www.greenoakantiques.com

[ttg]

It's good to hear that someone else doesn't like the contrast of white against the wood floors.

I have just completed a black piece and I'm working on a bronze/black tones. Which group of customers do you find prefer the black?

Basically for painted large pieces, we stick pretty close to white with either paint or wood showing through, cream, soft blue, sage, pale pink, antiqued yellow and black. I understand apple green, and robin's egg blue is supposed to be picking up momentum.

I'm confused about exactly what color robin's egg blue is. I've seen e'thing from sky blue to aqua called robin's egg.... opinion?

If you click on the "ttg" some options appear. There is a link to my About Me page - a few of my most recently sold items are shown lower on the page - gotta scroll down. :)

The Canton First Monday was started in the 1800's. Originally farmers met at the town square to trade livestock, etc. Now it is well over a 100 acres of booths - folks travel from long distances with huge trailors to buy and take back to their states.

Warranton, I think it was mentioned earlier, is making some incredible headway.

Is this a forum for mostly brick and mortar stores?

Devonia

[greenoak]

love your front page...wow nice painting....how do you ship the big furniture?


no, most here are web businessees...some stores tho...me! and some planning...some ebay ..

we do black with a little wood showing thru...and i think it sells to kind of young fancy girls ..kind of tuscan and modern.... i imagine them with black granite counters and stainless kitchens... and then the guys l ike black better than real peely paint shabby or white...

we mostly sell white then black then the fun colors, alpple green, pink etc...
we sell the black in what we call the ralph room as in rlauren... with reds florals and accents and iron and kind of pier one metal...

how is ebay going? we are having less luck there every year....

ann

www.greenoakantiques.com

[Kathy Ann]

Hi Dev. I feel like it's pretty evenly divided between bricks & mortar and e-commerce. And some of us swing back and forth. I have been exclusively on the internet for quite a while, but a couple of days ago the housedad at my son's group home asked me to let him rep some dolls for me. That would be the best of both worlds for me, to be in shops but not have to deal face to face with a lot of people, which I don't enjoy.

[ttg]

Thank you Ann, and you zeroed right in on the major undertaking - shipping that secretary.

Listing the secretary was an experiment. Usually we don't list larger items - though by the standards of the pieces dh (dear husband) takes to Canton, this is a smaller piece. However, because weather so often gets him in the winter - and we had heard that many were shipping successfully through Greyhound - we decided to give a piece a try. This auction was listed the week before Canton and if it sold on eBay -ok, and if not, he would take it to Canton.

I thought listing it with a BIN of 375.00 gave it more than a really fair chance to sell - and sure nuf a buyer did use the BIN. Then to ship... hahahahaha....

My dh ended up shrouding it in large size bubble wrap- he joked that it would bounce all the way there. Then lots of styrofoam blocks and finally it was crated in plywood. He riveted the plywood crate together by a line of screws( hand driven) and staples. I took photos of the crating after it was done and forwarded it to the buyer... if condition has altered drastically, I hope she takes photos before opening the crate. But what a trial it really was.

100 lbs is the limit for shipping Greyhound - cost was 85.00- which I thought wasn't bad. We were over weight twenty lbs - they winked and took it anyway. I was sooooo relieved.

So now I hyperventilate until I hear she has it intact - Thursday morning at 10 am. The wait is killing me. Also ...we had to self insure over 300.00 - something about zone insurance limits.

Kathy Anne, Thank you for the kind welcome. Like you, I no longer want to
make direct contact with the buyers. I don't go to Canton with my dh - haven't been once. He loves it but it has been my experience that customers who want custom painting ( overlooking what I have offered) can ask questions unending making it almost impossible to serve those willing to buy what's on hand without being rude.

Devonia

[ttg]

Good gracious, Ann, I checked your webpage. I could paint the rest of my life in your store and never finish. What a tremendous amount of stock you have and so beautifully displayed. Does your webpage generate additional business outside of your local area? As a marketing tool, what do you think?

Painting base colors: It's always a toss up for us. If we only had six of the same item, we could offer in each of the major tones. Most of the black that we have done has been also trimmed in what I call Gothic Gold... gold metallic scrolls and antique blood red roses evocative of the antique toleware trays - very ornate. This piece I've just finished is trimmed in metallic gold with lighter blush roses... not sure how I feel about it. I have found the blush tones in the roses blend with a larger range of decorator colors than a definite pastel pink or pastels. Works sort of like white - what won't a "blush" go with....

Kathy, I am wowed by your talent. Very original!

[greenoak]

ttg.....i see black as kind of modern and your black with the gold accents kind of old world.... you might try both and see if it brings in even more buyers... i have never tried the gold trim but it sounds neat.... ive seen lots of old metal done that way,,,coal hods etc...

our site gets about 700 hits a week and we dont link to anybody....


im rethinking that tho...

basically we are a destination store and not tryintg to sell much on the site ..
we want customers to come to us and it does that a lot....and our customers return to it a lot... we draw from a 100 mi circle and sometimes even farrther...
running a big web store would be pretty hard for us... and im not sure how well it would do...everybody says great but not sure what that means... anyone who works here gets paid.... ...so i have to be ready to pay for any effort ...we have failed at many web projects...ruby lane....ebay store......its a huge effort to do right ...so now i just want to sell our pictures on there and not much else...


what do you think about links?


sissy....i can say no to my customers all day and not be hassled...they always want something special , same as yours... just say no sorry... and dont explain... i do it all the time and it doesnt bug me... i deal with people all week long and i really care about them... but it has to be on my terms... but brick and mortar is really the only way i can make it all happen and keep this thing afloat!!!....


hows ebay for you? we do it too and have a 3500 rating... my dil , but its harder now...for us anyway.


ann