Lastly, we make house calls. This can result in a fabled but sometimes real life vintage treasure tr

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In the past year I've received countless questions about owning our vintage boutique, Red Velvet. You can see photos of our local shop here. I thought it would be fun to sit down with a cup of tea and really write about our experiences. I invited my good friend thanksgiving 2013 Jill who owns Lune Vintage in Winnepeg to add her thoughts to the conversation too. We both own local and online shops that sell vintage (as well as handmade) fashion. It's a dream job, but there are many aspects to our daily workflow that you might not expect! This post is for aspiring vintage thanksgiving 2013 sellers and anyone curious about the daily life of a boutique owner. Enjoy....
Q: Where do you find all the vintage clothes that you sell?   Elsie: This is by far the most asked question that I hear. Most people assume that I must thrift every day to keep the store running, but the truth is that I buy most of our clothing in bulk. We purchased a fully stocked store with a second level packed with even more vintage last year. Since we already have such a large inventory I only invest in vintage pieces that are a 10 out of 10 (or that could be with reasonable alterations, of course). We pass up a lot of average stuff and polyester dresses from the 1980s because we want the shop to be beautifully curated. 
With that said, we buy from local people who bring (usually large lots) of clothing into the shop for us to look at. We also attend private sales on occasion. Thrift shopping is a hobby of Emma's and mine. We both pick items up for the shop every now and then, but it's by no means the quickest way to collect good quality vintage. In my experience, the best way to gather a well curated collection is from private sellers and people cleaning out homes. Also, other vintage stores that need to liquidate inventory.
As you become an experienced vintage buyer you'll learn what prices are fair, unreasonable and great deals. You'll thanksgiving 2013 learn which styles are easy to find and which are more rare. You'll learn which styles your customers are most interested in too. Knowing what's valuable to your customer base can be much more important thanksgiving 2013 then knowing the value on every piece of vintage you come across. 
Jill:  Yep, I get this question more than any other too. One method for building a well curated collection is extensive thanksgiving 2013 thrift shopping. I m on the hunt 4 days a week at the very least in which I visit a series of stores in succession, based on a pattern of restocking that I ve noticed for each location. I ve also developed thanksgiving 2013 relationships in the past with a small charities who allow me to view items that are not suitable for their recipients (like free clothing facilities for the poor and newly immigrated who are not interested in wearing old looking clothing). 
Not thanksgiving 2013 all our stock is thrifted. Having a physical location where people can make an appointment for buying or consignment helps us dig up some really rare, quality vintage. thanksgiving 2013 The most profitable buy is usually thanksgiving 2013 in a lot . A lot is a large collection of items, usually not entirely inspected (boxed thanksgiving 2013 and not inventoried) thanksgiving 2013 and priced as a whole. You must determine what the lot is worth to you by viewing thanksgiving 2013 it quickly thanksgiving 2013 & by its most valuable contents. I ve come out smelling roses by piecing out lots (like the time I bought thanksgiving 2013 a costume jewellery lot that unexpectedly included a freshwater pearl necklace & two diamond rings, no joke!). They re a lot of fun if you know how to deal with them.
Lastly, we make house calls. This can result in a fabled but sometimes real life vintage treasure trove, but most of the time results thanksgiving 2013 in a mix of mediocre items or worse yet, unsellable and completely undesirable garbage. Screening & assessing these situations is key, but knowing how to do this is sometimes complicated, and comes with experience. When it s good, it s great! And if it s bad, at least you ll always have some good stories to tell.
What do you love most about owning your local shop? Elsie: I love so many things. Before owning my shop, I worked from home (online) for many years. Running a local shop is so incredibly fun and fulfilling. If I had to choose the best part it would be a tie between meeting blog readers almost every day and  building displays.
I love the process of visual merchandising. It's so much fun to build something pretty full of products that people can try on and buy! I love building displays with the dresses. Working on our shop makeover before we open