BAY AREA VINTAGE SHOPPING

One of the best ways to add a little spice to your home décor is to add a few vintage pieces. Anyone can go down to Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware and pick out a beautiful room but none of these pieces really show your personality. Vintage pieces are conversational and fun. They typically have a story behind them that can be shared with your guests and if not, you can always make one up to tease your friends. Maybe it’s a peacock lamp that you love because peacocks are your spirit animal. Maybe it’s an antique camera because you love photography. Or maybe you find a side table, in bright yellow that just makes you smile when you look at it. No matter the reason, vintage shopping is fun and the anticipation and excitement of wondering if you will find that special item today is the cherry on top.

The best way to shop vintage is to go open minded. Don’t look for something specific because you will never find it and the trip will feel like a failure. Enjoy the store and just wander. Bring a friend and comment on what you love or what you think is funny. And then eventually, while you have squeezed your way past the vintage clothes racks and held your noise through that weird smelling room, that special piece will suddenly shine bright. You will wonder why no one has grabbed it. Your friend will look at you like you have lost your mind. You will look back at your friend and think, why are we even friends? This is the most amazing piece ever! At that moment you just know that you have to buy it.

Vintage Shopping is one of my most favorite Saturday afternoon delights. Below are some of the vintage stores in the area to wander and absorb all things vintage. Some are a bit more eclectic, others are more musty, and some you will question their pricing but in general, these stores below are worth the adventure, again and again and again.

Vintage Market Post. 5206 N. Florida Ave, Tampa, FL 33603. (813)239-1000. This is one of our favorites because it has a good combination of furniture and accessories and with 9000 sq. feet of space there is a good quantity of inventory to make the trip worthwhile.

The Summer House. 3620 S. Manhattan Ave, Tampa, FL 33629. (813)831-4740.This store and the one next door, Oh Whatever, are two shops we hit every time we need something unique. It is local and close to the house, and I just never know what I might find. This store has many shabby chic items, painted wooden pieces and a nursery of plants. Parking can be a bit difficult some time. They are busy!

Oh Whatever. 3612 S. Manhattan Ave, Tampa, FL 33629. (813)280-9946. Unlike The Summer House, this store is filled with a lot more unique accessories, including plates, artwork, letters, etc. They also have more than half of the space filled with various shabby chic furniture.

Schiller’s Salvage. 1002 N. Rome Ave, Tampa, FL 33607. (813)443-4641. Schiller’s is an architectural and design salvage store. The place is filled with pieces of architectural elements, such as old doors, hardware, iron, and vintage tile. They also have salvaged furniture, signs, art, lighting, and miscellaneous oddities such as antique steamer trunks, Levi Strauss factory work table or a bank teller cage.

RareHues. 10005 N. Dale Mabry Blvd, Tampa, FL 33618. (813)313-6540. RareHues feels more new, than vintage it but has a large quantity of unique items. After shopping all day in less than clean vintage stores, this one was a breath of fresh air. It is super clean and beautifully curated. It is setup similar to a typical vintage market, with each section looking like a different person owns the space, but RareHues curates all the spaces based on their own supply of vendors. They also sell handmade jewelry, soaps, candles, and other specialty gifts.

Furnish Me Vintage. 1246 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL 33705. This store is located in downtown St. Pete, but its 30,000 square feet and four floors of inventory, makes this store worth the trip. This store is what I would call “high-end vintage”. They have fully restored, authentic restored mid-century furniture with higher price tags, and they also have new replica pieces with more moderate price points. My favorite section is roped off collection of Playboy magazines and their large collection of records. Makes you feel like you are right back in the 1970s. This store is great for those that can appreciate the art of historic furniture.

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