Panoply Booth Spaces and Antiquing Lately

Good morning! In just another week or so I can officially say Happy Fall, Y'all! The autumnal equinox will arrive on September 23rd in my time zone here in the Northern Hemisphere. Today I'm sharing Panoply's latest antique mall booth spaces with you. 

By the time you finish reading this post you'll understand why it's been such a crazy past few weeks for me. Grab a drink, sit back, and enjoy a little armchair browsing / shopping!

From late August until early this week, my two sisters (M & J) and I have been really busy shopping for, pricing, and staging our booth spaces in the South Charleston Antique Mall. We call this time of year our Happy Thanksmas period. Viewing this post of photos of our most recent booth vignettes will explain why!

Our Christmas inventory was gathered among the three of us, and we began staging the Tuesday following Labor Day, and finished up on the 12th.

Each of my sisters and I have separate vendor numbers, yet we coordinate and style our items all together in what is made into four separate spaces. We use divider screens, shutters and slats, and pegboard walls within our rented spaces to create 'rooms'. We share the total rent expense equally (calculated by square footage), and the management tracks sales and expenses for each of us.

It's typically sister M and I who fluff and style the booth spaces, and it works amazingly well once we come up with ideas. We then divide and conquer the tasks and stand back to tweak and admire each other's work. I take photos so we can share with sister J who lives in Cincinnati. Taking photos also allows us to post to Facebook, visually track sales, and make notes through each month.

Our main sourcing outlet for vintage and antique items are estate sales, both private and public. Working with a good mix of items acquired and inspired by the seasons, we know with retail we have to be ready well in advance with our stock. We actually began styling the fall vignettes in late July (back-to-school), early August (fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving), adjusting and adding as things sold.

'Mantiques', as we term items we think the guys gravitate toward when shopping, are mixed among the girly things, but primarily in one section. Locked curio cabinet items may be in one of three booths.

A bit of our farmhouse corner, which spans all seasons.....

November will mark the 60th anniversary of JFK's assassination, and Christmas parties will soon follow. We try to consider calendar events in advance and plan well ahead which ideas to play out.

We try to offer vintage ornaments and decorations, as well as decor items. We also try to include Hannukah in the holiday season.

We do sell furniture, although we limit it, due to having to move, clean, store and use prime retail booth space to display it.

We have consistently stocked vintage and antique linens our entire 15 years in the antique mall. 

Sometimes it works out that we set a vignette, and no sooner than we get home, we get a call that a large piece sells. No worries this time - sister M had a replacement ready to go in! 

We have just completed our 15th year occupancy in this mall! Our love of vintage and antique shopping and arranging vignettes satisfies our desire for creative expression here in our spaces, which are approximately 550 of the mall's nearly 18,000 square feet of various vendors' offerings. We are located on the first floor, and there are a total of three floors + a mezzanine. An elevator and restroom is available, as are radio intercoms when assistance is needed on each floor.

We are located at 617 D Street, South Charleston, WV 25303. We are off of I-64 at Exit 56, which intersects interstates I-77 and I-79 in Charleston, WV. Our hours are also very convenient to travelers, open Monday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm, and Sundays Noon - 5pm.  We are closed only three days a year - Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.

Stop in and see us sometime! Happy Thanksmas!

Rita C. at Panoply

Parties I Share With: Pieced Pastimes, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, A Stroll Thru Life, My Wee Abode, My Family Thyme, French Ethereal SYS, Follow the Yellow Brick Home TFT, Southern Sunflowers Home Matters, My Thrift Store Addiction, Our Hopeful Home, Karin's Kottage, County Road 407 Farmhouse Friday