Despite what it may seem like, there are no tricks to sound business sense when it comes to operating an antiques shop. The good thing, according to noted antiques expert Wayne Jordan, is this: “What works today in the antiques business is what has always worked: Learn everything there is to know about your business, develop a plan, work the plan diligently and adapt as you go along.” Read More +
Tag Archives: antiques dealers
Amazon.com opening its traffic to antiques dealers
Giving other search engines badly needed competition, online juggernaut Amazon.com is moving into the collectibles world to take dealers’ inventory out of the labyrinth that is Google search and away from eBay’s costly listing fees. Read More +
Behind the Gavel: Two tips on improving an antiques customer’s retail shopping experience
Two simple tips can give antiques retail store owners an edge in improving a customer’s retail shopping experience. Columnist Wayne Jordan says antiques dealers must make shopping in your store a fun experience. Here are two techniques (one hi-tech, one low-tech) that other retailers use to ensure their customers enjoy shopping in their stores. Read More +
Buck Stops Here: Why is courtesy so unexpected?
What’s a shop owner to do when kooky customers ask for the impossible? Grin and bear it and take a tip from these funny stories of Customers Gone Wild by shop owner Melanie Thomas. Read More +
Why the antiques we pass up haunt us for years to come
Finding a hidden treasure at a yard sale or antiques show is always memorable but why are we haunted by the antiques we pass up, overlook or leave behind? Columnist Melaine Thomas shares her greatest hits (of mistakes) and the lessons she learned passing up a $25 Georg Jensen bowl. Read More +
AB 391 lumps antiques dealers with pawnbrokers, may cripple California antiques trade
AB 391 groups California antiques dealers with pawnbrokers, forcing them to join a reporting system, pay fees, hold items 30 days before sale and even fingerprint and photograph all sellers. The law may be on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk as early as this summer for signage into law. Here’s how you can voice your opinion on the bill. Read More +
Why don’t kids want to be antiques dealers when they grow up?
Antiques dealer Melanie Thomas makes the case for transforming our trade into one children dream about. It’s time to replace the stereotypical ‘little old man on the corner’ with ‘the entrepreneur’ who is tall, dark and handsome (or at least middle aged with a full head of hair) and rich. Read More +
Readers’ Letters: Boastful dealers are rude but they have a right to turn a profit
Readers respond to a letter complaining about dealers who brag about lucrative margins, but refute claims dealers rip off customers when making a profit. Read More +
Readers’ Letters: Keep your antiques shop clean to boost sales
Keeping your antiques shop clean and inviting really will perk up sales I just received my Jan. 4, 2012, Antique Trader and loved the cover story by Zac Bissonnette: “What dealers can do to sell items faster for more money.” … Read More +
Mid-century modern design a hot seller at New York’s Pier Show
Sellers are responding to strong demand for Mid-Century Modern at Manhattan’s fall Pier Show with 19th century furniture nearly non-existent at November’s event. Read More +