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Discover Mid-America — August 2010
Creating anticipation
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Visiting two Kansas City vintage markets for this month’s feature story (page 12-13) was somewhat of an eye-opener for me. Having spent time in hundreds of antique malls and shops as publisher/editor/delivery driver for this publication, I can attest that each place is different but can sometimes woefully be the same.
Many antique dealers and mall managers have a kind of template they operate by in presenting their antiques and collectibles. Most use dividers or walls of some sort to separate dealer booths, shelving can be the standard gray industrial type and varieties of cork or particleboard remain popular.
Granted, this quasi-standardization comes about because many large antique malls are located in former grocery or retail stores, once standard bearers of some corporate identity. It’s hard to “liberalize” the atmosphere of a big-box setting with its fluorescent lighting, front-facing windows and high ceilings. Of course, the best counterpoint is having good quality dealers, a variety of merchandise and caring, competent and involved management.
Still, some of the most inviting antique shops I’ve visited, the ones that captured me for a time and got me to wandering, were housed in old structures, be it an old two-story home or historic commercial building with easy sidewalk access. Both Vintage Market North and Bottoms Up, the main focus of this month’s cover feature, defy that description.
Zona Rosa, home to Vintage Market North, was deliberating designed as a counter to the horizontally dictated shopping mall and Bottoms Up, by intent in what its dealers offer, naturally fits easily within the walls of a turn-of-the-century, multi-story warehouse. Both places convey an invitation of welcome and to linger. But while location means a lot for retail success, it isn’t everything. Both Vintage Market North and Bottoms Up aren’t necessarily on a main drag.
But what the operators of both markets do — and other antique shop and mall owners advertising in Discover Mid-America also — is create anticipation. They heighten the interest for the antique and vintage buying public in what their markets offer through limited opening dates or structuring sales around themes that fit what their dealers (or vendors) offer. And yes, even using the retail tradition of announcing a sale during a particular date foments a ready-to-buy attitude.
As Steve Rogers, co-founder of Bottoms Up puts it: “It’s a buy-it-now mentality. People come ready to buy.”
While the concept of vintage markets may dictate limited openings, I really can’t understand why having a sale or a sale around a particular theme isn’t more of the norm for antique malls and shops.
Maybe for a small shop owner, a sale could cut into an already razor-thin profit margin. Maybe a mall owner doesn’t want to confront dealer resistance to marking down their merchandise. Maybe it’s a lack of creativity. Or maybe it’s just laziness.
Whatever it is, it’s not good business. And if vintage markets are proving anything in the antique trade, it’s good business.
* * *
In case you’re wondering about how Discover Mid-America did in the 2010 Kansas City Press Club competition, our story “Lamp Lighters” (June 2009) took the Gold Award in Non-Daily Business Reporting.
Bruce Rodgers can be contacted at publisher@discoverypub.com.
> Refurnished Thoughts Archive — past columns
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