When Molly Bodungen opened a consignment shop, The Mercantile, in El Campo, Texas, she said her original purpose was to be a workshop where people could bring in their own pieces and she could walk them through the process of painting them, but the consignment took off and became so popular that she found she did not have room to host the workshop.
“We are home decor, we are not antiques, but if a shopper comes in, they just might find a diamond in the rough,” Molly said. “People who consign antiques need to know that they will not get its true value because people will buy it for home decor and paint it.”
Renell Moore, April 15, 2018
Coffee Shop Helps Antique Consignment Sales
When she bought the building across the alley and renovated it, she planned to have upcycled furniture and antiques in the paint store, but halfway through the renovation, she added a coffee shop, then rented some space across the alley to have a consignment shop with the antique upcycling.
As customers wait for their food after ordering at the coffee shop, they will go over to The Mercantile and shop while they wait for the food so the coffee shop has helped make the consignment shop successful.
Upcycling: Turning Something Old Into Improved Purpose
A beautiful sofa table sat in her store for about 5 months. “People would glance at it and say ‘oh that’s pretty’, but never wanted to buy it.” She said. “ Then someone bought it for a wedding cake table, and had me paint it white and distress the brown. I could have sold it three times that same week, and then after the wedding, the owners had cash offers.”
The current trend is that shoppers appreciate old dressers, but they want to turn them into bathroom vanities or something like that. A wooden bench will sit in the store forever, but as soon as she throws some chalkboard paint on the top and puts some legos inside of it, people see the different purpose and then it will sell.
“I try not to paint until someone requests that it be painted a certain color.” She once painted a rocking chair white because white is the color that sells. She placed it out on the sidewalk and sold it soon after, but the girl who bought it wanted it painted red so then she painted it red a second time.
Brown Furniture Doesn’t Sell, Add Color, Upcycle
A Lillian Russell walnut chest of drawers and dresser set from the 1970s is currently in her consignment shop. She said in order to sell it to shoppers in the 20 to 40 year-old age range, “The right person will have to come along, someone who grew up with one, their grandmother had one, it’s nostalgic for them. People like the quality of it, but they definitely want it painted.”
Some people like mid-century modern which is like a quirky eclectic mixture and they might just touch it up. Another person might like it if I had it painted white and then distressed down to the brown. All of the sudden you paint it white and shabby chic it, and people like it again.
Repurposing Antiques adds Desirability
If you take the drawers out of an old wooden file cabinet that is a hundred years old, make it into shelves and paint it white, it will sell immediately.
An antique brown high chair painted white and distressed would sell next week.
A wooden headboard from the 1970s that looks old and dated would sell if it was painted white and distressed.
Add a little gold patina to a candle stand that is black and it will sell.
Large Spools Sell Taken Apart
Two large wooden spools sat in front of the consignment shop for a long time.
“It’s hard for people to see that if they had the whole spool, they could make 2 tables out of it, so we had the whole spools outside on the sidewalk and they didn’t sell, but when we took it apart and had just the top and bottom out there, we sold 2 sets the first day we put them out.”
