Several months ago Carolyn Hemmings opened her new shop in Pomona, west of Garey.
Category Archives: buying
Champagne, cider & discounts at Christmas Open House
Fresh from their September buying trips, Peggy Arbenz and Janet Thompson have stocked Down Home for their annual Christmas Open House slated for November 7th.Highlighting the festive fall look of the shop is their vintage ornament tree, a customer favorite, as all as cranberry apple cider and lots of Christmas goodies. As with every Open House, there will be a Christmas gift for the first 50 customers in line, and there is always a line stretching around the building. They will be closed November 4th-6th in preparation for the event. Down Home is also hosting “Sparkle Lights and Champagne” on December 2nd at 7:00 p.m. The event will feature Debbee Thibault and her folk art blown glass ornaments and her new jewelry line. Thibault will be offering 25% off her glass Christmas ornament, and she will also be featuring one-of-a-kind items available only at Down Home. Of course, champagne, sparkling cider and appetizers will be served. Down Home is located at 200 E. Chapman Avenue in Orange. Call (714) 288-9208.
Colorblind antique dealer
The newest dealer on the Pomona Mall, Brad Henderson, is bringing a rich background to Brad’s Place at 223 E. 2nd Street in Pomona. He used to be caught up in the Picker Zone, peddling thrift store finds to the 2nd Street merchants. Before that he was a typesetter driven out of the business by an unusual disability, and now he has his own store dedicated to antiques and collectibles in Pomona. Henderson spent several years as a picker, which was a very difficult gig, he explained. While Jan Braunstein of Antique Avenue was one of his best clients, he oftentimes had a hard time selling to the merchants on the Pomona Mall. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to support him, it was that he was a naive buyer. ”I would come here with boxes of Hot Wheels and post cards and most of the time they wouldn’t buy from me,” he lamented. The upside is that they always told him why. ”They would tell me they were common or that they wanted red lines when it came to Hot Wheels, ” he said. They also taught me how to tell between a good and a bad piece of glass.” Braunstein was most helpful, but he also learned the ins and outs of the antique business from Inge Strong, Don Strong’s wife. He used to have a system for making the local thrift store rounds. He hit all the local Goodwills, Veteran’s Thrift Store on Garey, and Quality Thrift Store on Holt, but he did it in a very specific order, depending on when they restocked. ”Some stores stock in the morning, some in the evening, and some all day long,” he said. Prior to getting into the antique business, he was a typesetter for 25 years. Both his parents and uncle were in the typesetting business so it was natural that he would continue in the family business. His uncle owned a typesetting shop called “High Speed Typography.” He set cold type, poured hot lead, and later learned to use a Compugraphic machine as technology advanced. When typesetting morphed into the graphic design business, he was aced out as a result of a physical disability. ”I am color blind,” he said, adding that his mother discovered that at an early age when he couldn’t coordinate outfits. That might seem like a typical ailment for a man, but at the age of 8, he was tested and discovered to be colorblind. This does not mean that he cannot see colors at all, but he has difficulty distinguishing between shades. Reds and browns, for example, often look alike. As a result, he realized that he had to find a new career and antiques was it. Since he has trouble distinguishing between colors, he arranges his shop based on themes and shapes. For more information about his new store, Henderson can be contacted at (909) 623-7522.
mysterious source for best antiques
It’s not very glamorous work, but the best items in the greatest antique malls and shops come by way of hardworking pickers. They scour garage and estate sales, flea markets, dumpsters and even condemned homes. They pack up their findings and peddle them from antique store to antique store in a chosen district. Even though their rent is pressing, a picker may not have the energy to hunt down items, and sometimes they lack the courage to try and sell the items, having just been treated harshly by a less-than-appreciative antique dealer. Conversely, antique dealers do prize their pickers and are often secretive about who they are for fear of having to share their picker with another dealer. Pickers are particularly coveted because they are often the antique dealer’s lifeline to merchandise. Sometimes a dealer might know they are going take a hit on a certain item, but they will do so in order to maintain good relations and help put some food on their picker’s table. There is not just one class of picker. Although most pickers tend to be generalists, there are some famous pickers that do specialize in pottery, china, and a few even specialize in “estate jewelry.” Although some pickers appear to be vagabonds, there is an amazing degree of trust between picker and buyer. Some antique dealers even front pickers cash in order to finance their next buying excursion. In these cases, the picker’s profit is less, but sometimes this is necessary when the picker’s capital is depleted. It is considered standard for a dealer to pay one-third of the ultimate selling price, With pickers, the custom is to pay from 50 to 65% of the ultimate selling price for the convenience and sometimes the expertise of the picker. He might not know the subtle differences between a piece of Dresden and a piece of Meissen, but he has an undeniable gut instinct about what will sell. Pickers also seem to have an intuition about when and where estate sales will be held, because they are usually unadvertised. A picker might be very willing to arrive at the estate sale at 3:00 in the morning in order to be one of the first in the door at 8:00 a.m., while that is not practical for a show dealer or an antique mall owner who has to run their business. Even though a dealer may sell a picker’s item for a smaller profit, about 35%, items bought from pickers are often considered short term investments, meaning that these hot, virgin items will likely sell within a couple of days. Shop owners on a regular basis socialize with pickers, often taking their connections out to coffee or even a meal in order to pump them for information on market conditions and also to inform the picker as to their specific needs. Sometimes a dealer’s needs change. Perhaps they are going to set up at a Modernism or a Vintage Fashion Show that next month. Even when special requests are made, a dealer almost never has any luck getting a picker to write down any of these requests. Pickers are notorious for keeping it all in their heads. Pickers are more likely than not to demand a specific price for an item, especially since they just paid to acquire it. They know how much they are in it and how much they need to make to cut a profit. Another advantage of using a picker as an intermediary, it saves the dealer from getting the grief of hearing about how much the seller cherishes their family heirloom. Old Town Orange Pickers Because of the negative implications sometimes associated with being a “picker,” Suzanne prefers the expression “personal shopper.” Suzanne is a fixture in Old Town Orange. She has been buying and selling antiques to the dealers and shop owners since President Bill Clinton’s Inauguration. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota she moved to California when she was 9, the year that Disneyland opened. ”Tony” has an extraordinary talent beyond finding desirable antiques, he can transport them without having a beat-up pickup truck or even a car. He is able to load tables, benches and even bed frames on his bicycle. He has pedaled more than 10 miles, weaving in and out of traffic, while balancing several pieces of bulky furniture.
