Vintage kitchen collectibles can provide your kitchen with a unique style that reflects your own personality. However, you normally can’t drive down to the local department store and buy these items. You will need to locate the special places that sell them. To be honest, it’s not as easy as shopping at your local department store, but it’s a lot more fun. Because the very moment you experience the thrill of finding your first vintage kitchen collectible you’ll be hooked on this type of shopping.
One of these shopping avenues you may already be familiar with. In the summer you may have driven in town and noticed signs promoting a yard sale. Yard sales are one of the easiest places to begin your search for vintage kitchen collectibles.
As nice as individual yard sales are, there is another type of sale that may be better suited for finding vintage kitchen collectibles. They are known as either church or organizations sales. They are similar to an individual’s yard sale but many members donate items for the sale. This increases your odds of finding vintage kitchen collectibles.
Another shopping avenue is estate sales and there are generally two types:
The first type is held by the family of the deceased. Prices can vary widely.
The second type is held by professional estate liquidators. Prices here are generally higher than yard sales.
Another shopping avenue is auctions. This is a different type of shopping than the ones previously mentioned. You should arrive early and look at items you are interested in. Take notes about where the item is located, and if there are any flaws. One of the most important things you can do is to give yourself a spending limit on each item. Sometimes in the heat of auction battle you could spend way too much for an item.
I’ll briefly touch on two more avenues for finding vintage kitchenware and the first of these final two is: Thrift stores.
These are usually run by organizations that help out the community with the money they receive from the sale of donated items. The prices are either marked on the item or it will have a colored sticker. If it has the sticker, then you will need to locate their board that lists the prices next to the different colored stickers that they use.
Finally, the last avenue for vintage kitchen collectible hunting is: Antique Stores.
Each antique store will have their own method of how they price items.
Buying items at the above listed sales is different than most shoppers are accustomed to. Included is a list of tips to ease you into the different types of shopping:
1. Get your town’s newspaper – preferably the night before- and make a list of the yard sales and their start times.
2. Next, get your city map out and based on starting times or, another method of your choosing, plan how to visit each sale without backtracking. (This saves time and gas)
3. Once at a yard sale, and you see an item and you like it, but aren’t quite sure, pick it up, while you continue to shop. If not, someone else might see the item on the table and grab it and buy it before you make up your mind. If you decide you don’t want it, just put it back down on the table.
4. At a yard sale, if you feel the price is to high for an item. Ask if they would take any less. Sometimes they will, but not always.
5. If a church sale is mentioned in the paper, you may want to adjust your list and make that sale your first shopping stop.
6. If at an Estate sale run by an individual and you feel an item is priced to high, you can ask if they would take any less. But, they may say their prices are firm.
7. There is usually no dealing on prices the first day at Estate sales run by professional liquidators.
8. If you notice an Estate sale in the newspaper that is going to be held by a professional liquidator contact them before the sale and see if they have any special rules. As an example: At some sales you will be required to get a number and once the sale starts only a few people will be let in at a time. The lower your number, the quicker you get into the sale.
9. If you get out bid at an auction don’t get discouraged. If you continue shopping at the type of sales mentioned, you will probably find another item similar to the one you wanted. You may even get it at a better price!
10. You will register to get a number at an Auction, but this number is used by the auctioneer to keep track of what you bought and how much you owe.
11. Don’t start bidding at an Auction, when the auctioneer chants out his first suggestion for a price.
12. Go and observe at least one auction before you bid, or at least wait to bid until you feel comfortable and understand the auctioneer. Each auctioneer has a different chant, but once you listen for a few minutes, you’ll understand it.
Hunting the special sales mentioned is different than shopping at department stores, but you may find it more of an adventure. You never know during your adventure what you will find, but it is this thrill of the hunt that will propel you on to the next sale. With the knowledge about the different types of sales, and with the tips mentioned you should be able to shop with confidence, and you’ll soon have a unique kitchen decorated with vintage kitchen collectibles.
