'Tis the Season

The holiday season is here and cold weather is coming.... I do enjoy the Holidays because of family and all the good food, but it does sadden me that we as consumers are bombarded by Thanksgiving and Christmas decor starting in late July these days.... I have tried really hard to only display Fall until Thanksgiving and limit my Christmas until after Black Friday as well. My type of store deals more in repurposed goods, furniture and local made art, so holiday decor is really just fill in anyway. Still, you want your store to be festive and season appropriate. Then I have a bigger problem..... the colder weather! Not many garage sales going on this time of year.... I thought I had stocked my storage room pretty well this year, but alas, I was wrong. This Fall we have scrambled to keep the store full and because of that, the storage is empty! In my holiday travel I will also have to be shopping for new finds to pass on to my customers. No rest for Success!
From My Family to Yours, Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

I Really Love Fall!

I have always thought of Spring as my favorite season only because I would get excited about planting my garden and getting all of the flower beds ready... Old man Winter was finally gone and the weather would begin to get warmer.... Well, now that I have downsized (my house, not my life)I don't have that greenhouse and that garden anymore, or all those flower beds to take care of... In fact, the house I have now has LARGE trees that shade every inch of yard.. Great for mowing ( or lack of) but not for flowers and veggies... So I will just frequent the Farmers market six blocks away and spend my time doing other things... Like junking! Now is the time for changing around the clothes in your closet, making homemade soup and chili and Football! Oh yes, I do enjoy football.... I also enjoy seeing all the new faces coming into the store... Yesterday a woman from Fayetteville had come up to check out all the new stores. There are 19 new ones in the Downtown Rogers area this year and still a few empty spots. Soon the train excursions will start, and people will be able to ride between Rogers and Fayetteville and possibly to bentonville... That will be cool! Also November 11,2011 Crystal Bridges Museum will open in Bentonville. That is destined to be a spectacular place.
So, pull out your sweater and long sleeves, go check out a National Park or a museum and just enjoy what Northwest Arkansas has to offer in the Fall!

Crazy Days of Summer

Ok... I am horrible at keeping up with writing during the summer!!! I admit it! sigh.... So now school has started and Roxy is conquering the 4th grade, Frisco Festival was a great success (and profitable...YAY!) and we are down to one last Twilight Walk in "the District" coming September 16th from 5-9pm. Things should slow down, Right? I doubt it....
The Rogers area Flea markets and Antiques shops have bonded together to form a new group called Return2Rogers (check out on Facebook). It is a collective of small businesses to promote our very existence and let our wonderful public know that shopping small is a Great thing!!! Soon to be released is a map featuring the locations and description of what each biz specializes in. We (as a group) will then have specials, open extended hours and events in conjunction with each other so that the public can plan a whole trip of shopping in this area... Cool Huh?
Two upcoming events are of course the Annual War Eagle Craft Fair, October 13 - 16 at the nearby War Eagle Mill Farm and surrounding towns and then in November on the Saturday after Thanksgiving will be Second-Hand Saturday (or Small Business Saturday, as nationally publicized). Both events will feature extended hours and lots of cool stuff! If you are in the area, please stop in and pick up a map so you can experience all we have to offer!!

Summer Trips : Working in Business with Pleasure

 

Boy, has it been a hot summer so far! Now imagine Canton, Texas (102 degrees) inside a huge metal building with no air conditioning and 100,000 people... Yuck! What I did get out of the whole thing was to go earlier in the day... by 2:00 everyone was leaving and I felt like I was melting!!! It was a fun experience though, found some cool traffic signs and some vintage furniture for the store. We headed down to San Antonio from there and spent a few days wandering around the outlying neighborhoods and the Riverwalk area. Now, skip ahead two weeks and just on a whim, we decide to go to Tulsa to a music festival downtown.... well the music was questionable, the street performers were awesome and the crowd interesting!Needless to say, we got bored, drove to quiktrip to get an icee and went to our room in a very cool downtown hotel and called it a night. Next morning, we made the short trip to Jenks and spent hours shopping at my favorite store, River City Trading Post. My head hurt bad from looking by the time we were done, but drove home with a truck full of goodies! Now it is 108 degrees here in Northwest Arkansas and the store is mostly full, but my storage is completely empty.... and its too hot for garage sales or shopping... I'm not really sure what to do now! Guess I will have to start building my own furniture to paint!
The moral of this story is have fun with everything you do! If you have to travel, go visit the downtown areas and eat at the mom and pop establishments... you will not only get work done, but also take in some culture and have lasting memories!

A Fresh New Look: Downtown Rogers

The last two weeks have been exciting... the awnings are down and the new reveal are the old signs left from past storefronts....I even scored a couple of cool signs which I plan to put in my new house! Anyway, my old store didn't have a sign, but there are 3 broken windows which my landlord plans to fix and the sunshine will be very welcome. Now, I need to go visit the Rogers Historical committee and pick out an approved paint color to talk him into painting.... In my travels and adventures, I would love to find some old carnival letters or lighted sign that spells out RETRO for my storefront.... so cool!
Starting in May, our downtown district begins having "Twilight Walk" on the third Friday of the month until September. On these evenings, the businesses downtown stay open extended hours while free entertainment is provided at the Frisco Stage and local artists sell there wares on the closed-to-traffic streets. It is a very Family-Friendly venue with a new theme each month. I am chair for the month of June, and my theme is Luau Night. Local dancers will perform the hula and give demonstrations... I'm working on kettle drum music and maybe even a pig roast!
I'm so happy that we made the move to Downtown Rogers.... I see wonderful things happening in "The District"!

Exciting New Finds: Cleaning Out Old Barns

Ok I admit it.... the idea of "cleaning" an old barn sounds gross, looks gross and pretty much is gross. The things I find have an inch of dust or bugs hanging on for dear life or nasty non-mentionable crud that has to be scraped off.....But there are prizes to be had. Recently, on a trip to Madison County, I found at least 2 dumptruck loads of scrap metal (which right now is pretty profitable) plus other iron items that were pretty cool. There was at least a dozen horseshoes, some really cool spiral nails about 12" long, 5 metal milk crates and 3 wooden crates, metalware and two 5-foot chicken feeders. The feeders would look cool attached to the wall over a stove to put light cookbooks, oils, seasonings, etc. in. Another find that is hot right now is metal outdoor chairs and a swing... the metal swings are selling at flea markets for around $300 right now. All the time I am digging through this stuff, the old guy is saying, "Watch out for the spiders... Oh, and we have a rattlesnake that lives in here too....." Yikes. I also salvaged some barn wood that I will probably make benches or frames with. You don't have to spend money for cool stuff; sometimes just getting your hands dirty can be profitable.

Garage Sale Season!

After a long winter (it seems like) and 40 inches of snow (again, an overestimation), we have come to one of my favorite times of the year..... Spring!! And with Spring comes.... Garage Sales!! People are getting the cleaning bug or have a big Tax refund check or even just need to sell some stuff to raise a little money. Whichever it is, they begin to weed out unwanted items and I love to drive around looking for bargains. Because I prefer to deal with Furniture, I mostly look for wood items that can be repaired or painted, some metal or architectural and a few ecclectic knick knacks. My consignors bring in enough little items that I don't really need to shop for those. When we have too many small things, I think it looks crowded and junkie. So today I will get the trusty newspaper and scour through the few listings (still a little early in the year), and map out my path for early tomorrow morning.... hope I find some good stuff!

The Sun Is Out and the Door Is Open

I am really excited about this year in "the District". That is the moniker the people at City Hall have given the Downtown area of Rogers, Arkansas. It is a Historic area consisting of around 20 city blocks, give or take. The original downtown has brick covered streets and is about to undergo a "facelift"; federal grant money has been secured for historic lamposts and lighting and all of the building fronts will be restored to the original look (no ugly awnings, yay!) Under my big ugly awning hides three large windows..... up above the display windows and front door. When those are uncovered, we will have a plethera of natural light shining inside. The thought of that will help me tolerate the noise and destruction of taking down the awning....I hope!
Another great thing about the District in Rogers is that it is a Main Street City.... There are only 17 across the United States and we are so priveledged to be a part of the program. We have special federal funding for improvements and projects, a design team that offers free advice to business owners and a super staff at Main Street Rogers, Inc. Kerry and Rhonda make sure that the businesses are up to date on events and activities by holding weekly meetings and lots of email... check them out on Facebook... and while you are there look at Retro (red sign on pic) to view my FB page and other businesses in the District.
I can't wait until the garage sales begin....

Looking past the snow; Shopping days are ahead!

Record Temperatures.... Record Snowfalls! Here in Northwest Arkansas we have had some interesting weather so far this 2011! But as they say in Hollywood, "the show must go on!". And so we push forward. The name of my store is Retro and it is located in Downtown Rogers, Arkansas in an area known as "the District". In "the District" you can find food, antiques, women's clothing, flowers, photography, books and me! My store is ecclectic, vintage and artsy; our motto is refurbish, renew, recycle. I sell mostly repurposed furniture along with interesting home decor and local artwork. I'm a picker.... dumpster diver. I am so amazed at what people throw away these days. I rescue those items and give them a new life.... a second chance. I'm just doing my part to be green and reduce waste.... and having a little fun too!
The purpose of my blogging will be to hopefully entertain, educate and point out cool finds that I happen upon while shopping (that't my favorite part)! so pleeease check in weekly to find out what we've been up to!