Ahh y'all, this is a fine category. It's the one Retro Den fits into. While the Tulsa Flea Market and antique malls have a huge variety of stuff (which is one of their great appeals), curated vintage is super fine-tuned to create a collection of items that meet the owner's qualifications (Mid-Century Modern, Bohemian Modern, Traditional Antiques, Modern Eclectic, etc.). Customers can come to expect a very specific variety of items from these shops.
What is a consignment shop, you ask? Consignment shops take items on consignment (hence the name) which means the store doesn't out-right own its merchandise; they instead take a cut of the profit once something sells. The percentage the shop takes ranges from shop to shop–typically we see anywhere from 50% to 20%. Many genres of these shops exist–clothing, jewelry, kid's stuff, furniture. We only have eyes for furniture and home-related consignment shops, obviously. Some of these shops pack in the furniture while others more thoughtfully arrange the pieces. As such, your experience can vary widely while shopping vintage in consignment stores.
Hands down, my favorite way to shop vintage is flea markets. There is something extra fresh and exciting about them. Vendors set up booths in a large facility or outdoor space and fill their spots with vintage treasures. Rows and rows of tiny shops to peruse! It's like an antique mall, but these booths are set up and torn down within a matter of days or even hours, so everything feels new and urgent. You cannot come back another day hoping that gold polkadot pyrex bowl will still be there. YOU HAVE TO GET IT NOW. Or you may live your lives apart forever. Cue the heartbreaking music and imagery of you stirring up chicken salad in a plain, non-polkadot bowl.
Thrift stores are wonderful places to shop because, besides being cheap, most of them benefit charitable institutions. For instance, here in the Tulsa area, the HOW Foundation thrift store benefits those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, and the Animal Aid thrift store works to help abused and injured animals. So you are actually doing a good thing when you spend at these shops!
First up in our series on our favorite places to shop vintage in Tulsa–antique malls!
While a great friend may love hitting up the thrift stores and estate sales with you, an antique mall may appeal to a wider audience. For example, Palmer used to take friends and extended family to Generations Antique Mall after breakfast at Tally's on the weekends. Everyone seemed to find a trinket (like a plastic lemon tree or German Shepherd figurine) to take home or at least enjoyed looking.
We love a curated home carefully crafted with vintage, found, and new pieces. This adds depth and meaning to spaces. One of the best things about vintage pieces is that you have to hunt them down. If you want something specific (side table, a tall lamp), you have to go to lots of places to find the right one because vintage isn't something that's made in mass. It's pieces that have lived a life before, that have history, are from a certain era, and evoke a more individualized style than off the shelf at a big box store.
I feel so much passion streaming through my fingertips right now as I start this ode to estate sales. I've been attending these with my mom since I can remember.
Estate sales are when a home is opened up to the public and all (or most) of the items inside are for sale. Typically a professional runs the show because of their skill at appraising and also the emotional energy it takes for a person to value and part with the items in their home or the home of a loved one. People often have these sales when a family member has moved into assisted living, a major life event has happened like a divorce or a long-distance move, or when someone has passed away. That said, it's appropriate to have a certain reverence when attending a sale. This is someone's collected life.