Buyers are Getting Younger Thanks Heavens

There is plenty to read about these days about the graying heads of antique buyers--and how in five-ish years no one will be buying antiques because there are no young buyers..  This gloom and doom is certainly depressing as I hope to have my toe in the business till I croak.

But our experience this year in particular indicates that the vintage and antiques market does have a heartbeat--and with folks who do not get AARP magazine each month.

Independently,  Dear Husbola and I came up with the observation after the August Elkhorn--"Gee-the crowd is skewing younger these days."  We noticed more and more folks with school age children and on many occasions parents were describing and talking to the kids about the items.  We saw many kids carrying things they had obviously purchased.  We saw many young women--obviously in their 20s and 30s buying things--good good good.  And young couples buying.

Our shops are seeing younger buyers.  No more is it only gray heads wandering through thinking about the old days and saying "I remember my mother had one of those."  BLAH!

Now--we are certainly stocking different things than we have in the past.  We still work hard to stock the quirky the unusual and the "don't see it everyday items" that we so love to sell.  The repurposed market has exploded--buying widgets and fashioning things from them that are decorative and vintage.  I think that dangerously borderline on crafts--and we have not moved into that phase.  Taking an old rake and turning it into coat rack or buying a brown brown brown 1940s dresser and painting it all over with chalkboard paint is NOT going to happen in our garage--but I appreciate the new wave of customers it brings to the market.

Sales this summer have been very strong in all our venues.  Those folks who are lucky enough to have some disposable income seem to be spending--even if the average purchase price is lower than it once was.

Gotta run now.  I am on the trail to tracking down some of that chalkboard paint...