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 +
Buck Stops Here: Why is courtesy so unexpected?
Tag Archives: Melanie Thomas
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 +
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 +
Antiques dealers must adapt more than inventory to stay relevant
Because we live in a culture fascinated by youth and addicted to everything electronic, there is one species fending off, as best it can, the threat of extinction. I’ll call this genus the antiques dealer. If Darwin is correct, adaptation is tantamount to our species’ survival.
After a trip to England and realizing 90 percent of the antique dealers “across the pond” had gone the way of the buffalo, I was determined to survive. The minute we landed back in the states, our website was updated to a more “Google-friendly” platform and now oozes with SEO keywords, enabling us to be “found” by those persnickety search engines. Read More +
The sizzle turned to fizzle for this antiques dealer’s shot at reality TV
>This article was originally published in Antique Trader >>Get it delivered for just a $1 an issue! We’re all familiar with the unique lifestyle that comes with being an antiques dealer: Working when most “normal” people are off, our friends … Read More +