Two years ago I started this venture out of a love for taking something old and making it new. It’s been a hobby for me that has paid for itself and my love for vintage has only grown. Although my taste and style may have changed over the years, my passion for mid century has stayed the same.
From the very beginning I had a vision. It was going to be a step by step process that started in my garage, with some spray paint and a pair of cane back chairs and ends with me opening my own store, Knicknaques Vintage Boutique.
In November of 2013 I opened my Etsy store and realized other people across the country loved vintage and my work. It fueled my fire for more. Pretty soon, I had a garage full of treasures that could fill a store. My ambition to find pieces to work on was much bigger than my time to actually work on them. The next logical step was to find a booth to rent at an antique mall. It was about as much as paying for a storage unit, only it would be open to the public and also generate sales. Knicknaques opened at Cherry Hill Antique Mall at the Cotton Mill in Monroe, Georgia, in March of 2014.
I never made rent with my sales. Hell, I’m not sure if I had more than 3 sales in the entire 4 months I rented there. I sold on Etsy and Craigslist though. Several times a week I would head up to my booth, pick up a piece and either ship it to places like New Jersey and New York, or I would meet in parking lots in Athens and Stone Mountain to deliver items that were bought through Craigslist.
I decided to try one more antique mall and moved my booth down the street to Pickers Paradise in July of 2014. I did much better there. Not only did I have enough sales to pay rent, I also got a check! I was slowly finding my niche and learning about important business strategies like inventory, pricing, marketing and branding. I was comfortable with this stage of my Knicknaques business. I stayed at Pickers Paradise and had 4 booths at one point.
In October of 2015 I was asked if I would be interested in running the mall once a month in exchange for rent. I not only reduced my rent but also learned more about the ins and outs of running an antique mall. I loved it! A whole day filled with being in an antique mall and being around customers that love the same thing I do.
It was at that point that I realized I wanted my own place and started looking for buildings to either rent or buy. Rent was expensive and would really cut into profit, but what I could afford to buy was a little discouraging, to say the least. I found an old home in downtown Loganville. It was right off Main Street and near all the other antique, thrift and vintage stores.
Location was perfect, the house was not. I loved it though. It was a 1 bedroom, 1 bath home built in the 1900’s and was only $17,000! It had beautiful wood floors and tongue and groove walls. It had a gorgeous mantle in the living room and an old wood stove for heat. Unfortunately, it also had asbestos siding and the kitchen area was literally falling off the side of the house. I talked to the city of Loganville about re-zoning to commercial and got quotes for repairs. The process to rezone was going to be fairly simple but the cost to repair was quickly exceeding $50,000. During my decision to make the purchase, the property was put on the blight list. It was deemed dilapidated, unsafe and unsightly. The owner had 60 days to either renovate the property or have it demolished. All signs pointed to walk away. So I did. Two months later the house was torn down. As sad as it was, it was probably for the best. So I kept looking and found a house to rent in Monroe, next to the post office. It was already commercial and available. It was another home built in the 1900’s, had more than 10 rooms and several fireplaces. But I would have to rely on booth rental income to supplement rent and parking was close to nonexistent, so I moved on.
In December of 2015 I found 707 S. Broad Street in Monroe.
Built in 1920, it had 6 rooms, a full bathroom and a half bath. 4 of the rooms had old non working fireplaces with mantles, which were obviously a huge selling point for me.
There was a cute little screened porch off the side and a detached garage. It was within my budget and most importantly, if I stood on the front porch, I could see the antique mall at Walton Mill and the Cotton Mill was 2 blocks down from there. It was right in the middle of the antique mall area and located on a major highway that ran through town. It was zoned residential and I got friendly with the planning and zoning department for the city of Monroe. They indicated that a rezone to commercial in that area would be beneficial to the city plan and was a fairly simple process. I put a contract on the house and applied for a rezone. If the house couldn’t be re-zoned, then we would just rent it out. It was a win-win situation and so far everything was moving smoothly.
I attended the February Planning and Zoning meeting where my application for rezone was to be discussed. Debbie from the planning and zoning office informed me that my application request was first on the agenda and I would need to speak to the committee. Um, I wasn’t prepared to speak! I went up to the podium and told them who I was and what I wanted to do once the property was rezoned. The city of Monroe is trying to revitalize and grow the antique mall business and fortunately my business venture falls in line with their plans. They approved the rezone and will send their recommendations to the city Council who meets on March 8. One down, one to go. In the meantime, I closed on the house and have the deed in hand. The next two weeks will be spent getting the house ready. Hopefully to run my store, but if the rezone application is denied, it will be ready to rent.
I’ll be back with more of the story after the council meeting. See you soon!
Jayme
Great to see you coming so close to your dreams and goals!