The Restorative Shock That Energizes Antique Shop Passions

The Restorative Shock That Energizes Antique Shop Passions

     As we proceed with this series of strange but true stories about our rather weird association with the antique and collectable trade, including our partner business, being vintage music and accessories, we probably don't need to footnote for you, each day, that we don't compare ourselves, or attempt to parallel competing antique venues. We have a much different philosophy about our place in profession, as main street retailers, and while we are friends with many, close partners with a few others, we have always been lone wolves when it comes to reasons why we chose the antique trade in the first place. I've stated this many times, to the disbelief of some of our contemporaries, that we Curries didn't decide to get involved in antiques and related collectables to make big, big money. There are thousands upon thousands of better plans to make money, than being an antique dealer in a small town stuck in the grasp of a seasonal economy. We are, first of all, respectful students of history. Even after many years in the trade, of buying and selling old stuff, we still consider ourselves apprentices. For me it means I've spent four decades trying to figure it all out, and I'm still not there yet.
     Andrew and Robert, our vintage music partners, were brought up immersed in heritage. In fact, Suzanne and I, back in the late 1980's, were operating managers of Woodchester Villa and Museum in Bracebridge, and I used to take both lads to work with me each day that I was needed on-site. I even set-up a play-pen in the museum annex for Robert, and Andrew would bring his toy scooter with him, to criss cross the aisles of the display. At that time, the museum annex had mostly agricultural relics from the area, so there wasn't much danger of him bringing down a shelf of fine china or historic pressed glass. Even when Suzanne and I conducted tours of the property, we had the boys in tow, Robert in a snuggly strapped to my chest. We did the same when we were out on the weekend, antique hunting. The boys never had a chance to do much else, other than be involved with heritage-somethings, which in their case turned out to be vintage vinyl and old instruments; mostly being of the stringed variety. In addition, our house back then, was also an antique shop and storage facility, so distancing oneself from the heritage ambience was pretty much impossible unless they had divorced us as parents.
     Suzanne and I were both interested in roughly the same areas of collecting, especially old bottles, and antique glassware, her main interest being Fenton's cranberry style, and mine was mostly Canadiana, like the famous Beaver sealer jars. When we got together we merged our collections and our interests in one day, opening a really swell antique shop; which we did in our first home on Ontario Street in Bracebridge in 1986. As I noted previously, I had opened a shop on Manitoba Street in the fall of 1977 with my parents in the former McGibbon House, but other job offers and poor sales, tore the partnership to bits by the early 1980's. The point I wish to make, is that we have lived the antiquarian's life, even in our youth, and not one of us would ever admit, even under torture, that we have done so because of margin of profit. It's not like we don't wish to make money in this venture, just that we don't measure our participation entirely by how much is jingling in our pockets, or in the till at the end of the day. Antiques are good investments and have been for centuries. If we don't sell them now, we will sell them one day, and at the very least, get our investment back with a little dividend. In the general retail trade this isn't a likely final result. As we buy everything for investment value, with the knowledge that time is on our side, we won't get hurt if the market goes south, as they say, unless it's a forever downward trend.
     I remember a publisher once, laughing at me, when I made the honest claim to him, that I didn't write just for the money. And just so you know, I haven't been a paid-writer since the summer of 1990, except of course on specific projects of which I have been hired to perform a specific writing task, which number few over two and a half decades. I don't like being under the thumbs of publishers, who thought that if they paid for my services, they could get me to support their biases for public consumption. The same goes in the antique trade. We chose this profession as a lifestyle, not solely as an interesting way to make a buck. When it comes to how many hours we work in a week, believe me, profit falls well behind enjoyment value. We have created a shop environment that is more like a recreation room in a house, than a strictly, rigidly structured retail outlet. We hear about this all the time, and it makes us feel good, that others see and feel the same as we do about a relaxed atmosphere with built-in comforts. Gosh, we want our patrons to feel comfortable and cheerful when they visit, and should they wind-up on a back couch, reading a book for a tad, then we have done our job crafting a business-hobby type enterprise. This doesn't mean we don't have stresses, because as I've noted in previous articles, it can be a brutal enterprise at times, because of the troubled folks who have to seek us out, in order to sell family heirlooms and such, to raise funds for day to day living. It sucks on that level, but we work hard to make it up in other ways, and so far, it has been our crowning achievement, to have created such a non-threatening, soft environment to share our passion for history and heritage articles.
     Throughout the year, we host a wide variety of creative folks, in the profession of entertaining audiences, and they have come to think of our Gravenhurst shop as a sort of safe haven, where they can hide-out for awhile, usually before evening shows, or during a tour hiatus. I have sat in this studio chair many times, next to some of the finest musicians and entertainers in the country, and stood shoulder to shoulder with accomplished writers and historians, who have taken the time to discuss their latest projects, and upcoming plans. While I'd like very much to name them, it is our shop policy to allow these guests their much needed privacy. The only time we will celebrate their attendance, is when they ask us to take pictures of them in our shop, often with one of our partners in the mix, which is really neat. In the past twelve years we've had the who's who of the Canadian entertainment scene, and some well known American and British musicians, pleased for the respite our studio offers the road-weary traveller.
     What goes on here, every day of the week, (Sundays are dedicated to music recording in our studio), beyond the selling of antiques, is a wild social / cultural exchange with some very proficient customers; not meaning just the class of customer you would consider a celebrity. We get a real rush talking to authorities on all kinds of subjects, and representing hundreds of different and exciting professions, and it's what broadens us as antique dealers and historians. One minute we could be discussing the history of glass marbles, and minutes later, be talking about funerary heritage with a collector. It could well spin thereafter into a debate about the Toronto Maple Leafs ever winning the Stanley Cup again. We talk about antiques a lot, obviously, and their provenance, and the most recent finds we've made out on the weekly hunt and gather missions. There could be an unexpected treat when a local historian pops in to share some stories garnered from their recent research mission, and they might actually seek our assistance to clarify something of which we may have more expertise. In between of course, are the sales and acquisitions of the day, that keep our doors open. But when we get home at night, most of the time, we are just as excited about the meetings with interesting folks, who never rattled our cash box with a purchase, as we are those who found something of interest in our shop.
     All of us understand the suspicions of our critics, who would argue to the contrary, the Curries are just as profit-hustlers like the rest of us. It's not the case we can disagree with them, because without profit, we simply can't carry-on the business as a going concern. It is reduced then to an unprofitable museum collection where no admission is collected. At the same time, we consider our antique preoccupation an equal partner, in the quest for quality of life, and our customers on the broad scale, enrich our lives a thousand different ways. Some great and enduring friendships have been made in this business, because of this business, and when we look back at our own history, we could never feel collectively or individually, that we had wasted our time trying to build our enterprise. And at times, because of some failed relationships with some members of the local business community, we have considered relocating our operation. Yet, just when we think we have reached a serious impasse, something happens that changes our opinion and the matter is dropped. We've navigated downturns in the main street economy on numerous occasion, even during road reconstruction out front of the shop, and pushed our way through provincial and national economic dips, with a little collateral damage but still the strong resolve to keeping working to make the shop more inclusive and less exclusive.
     When we initially set our boys up in the vintage music business, the mandate was clear and uncompromising. We were opening a local business for the local marketplace. It was to be a year round business. While we were happy to have the boost of the tourist season, we never compromised our service to the local clientele, who kept us going for the full twelve months. When we added the antique component, just before Suzanne retired from teaching at Gravenhurst High School, our mantra was the same. We are hometowners and that means our loyalty is in Muskoka. Suzanne and I are two well qualified local historians, and we're not kidding about the hometown loyalty. We're always ready to talk history here, and attempt to answer any question our customers have, regarding district heritage. It's not a big money maker, unless we are hired to work on a specific project, but what the heck; we find it recreational to talk about the home region.
     The reason this lengthy introduction to future stories in this space, is necessary, is due to the fact many antique lovers today have a new opinion about contemporary dealers, that isn't fair as a generalization, especially to mom and pop operations like ours. We are the faces of our business, and the obliging folks who have picked our inventory one piece at a time, from all across our region of Ontario, with you folks in mind. We don't go to auctions, and if we do buy estates, they represent materials we judge perfect for our little shop of curiosities, that will entertain our customers, not show them more of what they have seen in every other antique shop around the province. Within our little main street business, that some customers say is actually enormous, is a nesting place of history, for history lovers. It's what pleases us, and what makes our customers want to return.
     Now we can begin some related stories about how our business fits into the local heritage scheme of things, past and present.
Please stay tuned. I've got some great stories inspired by our foray into the past, antiques and the stories surrounding them.