So I bought a vintage store...PT 2

...and I'm still pinching myself. Last week, this Vanessa and then this Vanessa came to my house, and I talked to them each about how I dream of one day finding one giant lot of vintage clothing so I could start my shop back up. My decision to quit selling vintage while Jacob was young was absolutely the best one for my family, but now that Jacob is older, actually naps, and I'm not a wuss about letting someone else watch him, I have been wanting to get back into the vintage game. Our house is mostly put back together, and Josh and I both felt that I could ease back into selling again. The thrift stores in Portland are so picked through that it takes weeks of hunting to find anything truly vintage, and that's not just what I want to be doing with Jacob. I rarely make it to estate sales anymore, since it's usually just me and Jacob on Friday and Saturday mornings, while Josh works. We knew that when I'd start selling again, it would have to depend on me finding a big lot of clothing. I had no idea it would be this big.

On Thursday, I saw an ad that a vintage clothing store four hours away from Portland was closing and selling everything. I talked to the kindest woman who was closing her business of 30+ years. That night Josh talked to her. We prayed and prayed. We figured out finances on Friday and picked out a shipping container to use for storage. Then we drove out to see it on Saturday and that night we shook hands on the porch of the owner's house. We met up and signed a contract over breakfast on Sunday.

And so I am now the owner of a couple thousand pieces of vintage clothing and jewelry, 85% of them 1960s and older (and NO 80s-90s stuff!). There is the entire contents of a shop, many many many boxes and a room full of clothing at her house, and a 20'x10' storage unit full of stuff! I am overwhelmed in the best way- overwhelmed by the task of driving back out with the biggest U-Haul we can get, packing up delicate breakables, packing old jewelry, carefully storing Edwardian-era hats...It's a lot to take in. I am THRILLED and so excited to dig through boxes that haven't been opened in years, to sort through buckets of bakelite (!!), and to discover what old things where passed on to me.

(excuse the crappy pictures, I was just snapping away with excitement. This is most of what I'm getting, minus the storage unit and a whole lot else not pictured).












We brought back a very small amount of things with us (what we could fit in my trunk), and even digging through just that had me freaking out a little bit. There are SO MANY crisp cotton dresses and skirts from the 50s, gorgeous rayon 40s dresses, a LADY AND THE TRAMP siamese cats skirt from the 50s, a perfect 40s/50s swimsuit I'm totally keeping...the list goes on. If you follow me on Instagram (thefriendlyfox), chances are you're fed up with all the pictures I'm posting. :) It's hard to contain myself.



For now, the plan is to go pick up the rest of the lot very soon and sort sort sort. I plan to sell a few pretty big lots of stuff wholesale right off the bat to get some storage fees paid off and such, so if you're a vintage seller that's interested, keep an eye out for that! I need to figure out what to do with the collectibles that aren't clothing, the displays I'm also getting, and I am assuming it will take me a few weeks to get settled in to this, get clothing cleaned and processed, and photograph everything to sell!!

I'll be updating you guys on how it goes- thanks for all your excitement! I'm sure I'll keep posting pictures on Instagram and twitter, because I'm finding lots of cool stuff already!