She was not your typical buyer. She looked more like my inner stereotype of a “biker chick” in her leather jacket, boots, and dark makeup. I had my doubts that she’d be a paying customer when she came into the Antiques Collaborative, where I was temporarily working as a desk manager and cashier while the owners, Bill and Isabel Bradley (featured in my last month’s article), were away attending a family wedding in Isabel’s homeland, Great Britain.

The young woman – let’s call her Sally – seemed scattered and unfocused. Adding to the impression she gave of flightiness were the number of pieces she wanted me to call the dealer and “make an offer” on. But I made it a point to be courteous and friendly to her as I and the other staffer opened cases for her to inspect merchandise.

The offers weren’t a small annoyance; as we neared closing time, a couple of other customers heard her making offers and saw me and my fellow staffer making phone calls to dealers. So they decided they’d like to make offers, too (In those cases, we could not reach the dealer, and the customers bought the items anyway). 

Meanwhile, Sally left the building to chat with her husband, a few times and for lengthy periods, about the things she was considering buying. Once or twice, she seemed to disappear altogether from the parking lot! We had just about decided that she’d left without buying anything at all when she finally returned with her husband and his checkbook – and bought just under $2,000 worth of items! For me, the experience was a lesson in not making assumptions about other people based on their appearance or behavioral quirks.

Merchandise Vetting Matters

I made it a point to greet everyone who came through the door, to welcome them, and to ask if they’d ever been in before so that I could direct their traffic to all three floors if they were first-timers. And, as it turned out, more than half of them were new to the shop.

I also made it a point to say a cordial goodbye and thanks to browsers as they left, and several told me, in commenting on the merchandise, how much they appreciated seeing an antique shop that actually is one. They said they’d never seen anything like it for the age and quality of the offerings. This is consistent with my own shopping experience, where the majority of antique shops I’ve visited are actually not much above an old-time second-hand shop, where “antique” just means more than five years old. (I’ve written at length on this topic in other articles for this column, so I won’t beat the hobby horse to death again now!)