Welcome to the business of antiques, where I help you make your passion for antiques profitable.

I'm Tom McLark Haines, CEO of the Antique Steven Company, and I'm on a mission to make antiques modern, sexy, fun and profitable.

I hate to break it to you.

If you're not making money in your antiques business, then it's just a hobby.

In this podcast, I interview some of the leading antique dealers from around the globe, getting their advice and sharing my own on how to sell antiques to the modern day antique buyer.

We discuss ways to recession proof your antiques business by developing strategic marketing plans, elevating your brand to attract the right target market, and planning for profits.

You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

So we'll discuss some sourcing tips straight out of my antique Stiva little black book.

I'm teaching you the business of antiques.

In today's episode, we are talking with Amanda Kinney of the High Point Antique and Design center, and we are talking about what goes on during High Point market and in between markets.

So let's get on with the show and get talking to Amanda.

I am here in Venice and I am with one of my favorite people on the other side across the Atlantic, Amanda.

Now, I have a really, really important question for you, Amanda.

Your last name?

I always say McKinney, but it's Kenny.

Not just Kenny.

K I N N E Y.

I.

Think I have you in your phone.

In my phone with the wrong name.

Since, like that is funny.

I saw the invitation.

Well, we learn something new every day.

And I love your signature red lipstick, so you always look gorgeous.

Thank you so much for having me today.

No, it is lovely to have you.

And so you are one of the nicest people in this industry.

You are kind, you are generous.

You are.

You're a fixture in.

In the interior design industry.

You're a fixture in High Point Market.

And I think anyone who's gone to High Point has seen your blonde head bobbing around the Antique and Design Center.

And what I wanted to do today was just get to know you.

Get to know not Amanda McKinney, but Amanda Kinney of the High Point Antique and Design Center.

Antique and Design center of High Point.

Well, thank you so much for all your kind words.

That's very sweet of you.

No, you know, I'm a huge fan of you personally and also of your center.

So when we're working with antiques diva clients, if often I do business coaching with clients and when I have a new dealer coming in and they're setting their goals, I Always tell them it doesn't matter whether you're going to do a.

Like a traditional storefront or you only want to be online or maybe you do want to do the fairs.

Regardless of what your personal goal for your store is or what inventory you want to sell, I always say you should have an inventory and a way of doing business that you could be accepted by the Antique and Design center because I think you set a standard for quality.

Thank you so much, Tama, that I really appreciate you saying that.

And we do have dealers contact us that say, Tama told me that this is the show I need to be in.

So we really appreciate that.

I appreciate your kindness and generosity as well.

You are always a.

A bright light.

You.

You light up the room when you.

Anywhere you come in.

And we appreciate you, you being with us.

Thank you.

It's a love fest.

Okay, so let's back up.

What I would like to have you do is actually just introduce yourself because I started off by talking, but I'd like to have you tell our listeners who are mostly antique dealers or want to be antique dealers, to have you tell our listeners who you are, what you do, and a little bit about your center.

Okay.

Well, my name is Amanda Kenney.

As.

As Thomas said, my partner, Karen Luisana, and I run the Antique and Design center of High Point.

We started in 2010, so this is going to be our 15th year this year.

We're really excited about that.

And what we do is we have a space at High Point Market.

High Point Market is usually or mostly all new furnished home furnishings.

And what we did was we brought in something a little special with a little more soul.

Although there's a lot of great new things there.

We really felt that it was important to bring in antiques to the center.

No, I think that's a fabulous description of what you do.

Of what you do and why you do it.

Because I think in today's interior design world, the way in which people are decorating, it's not all.

It's not all new furnishings.

It's not all one period.

If they're doing antiques, I mean, I'm sitting here in my living room in Venice and it's all about the mix.

I mean, we've got Swedish Rococo.

Those over there are ceiling tiles from the.

It's architectural salvage.

They're ceiling tiles from the Soviet embassy in Berlin from their innov.

So it's.

For me, it's all about the mix.

And that's why you bring.

Is that patina, the punctuation point to To a city which is known for contemporary furnishings.

Yes, I.

And it is all about the mix.

You know, I love having an antique chest with a very modern painting above it, or vice versa.

Having an.

A very modern piece of furniture and then having an 18th century portrait hanging above it, it just really makes it feel authentic and warm and loved.

I think.

Antiques, I know that you probably say this all the time too, but antiques, they have such a story, and when you bring them into your space, you're bringing in the energy of all the people that.

That love this piece before because they all, you know, they've probably gone through several hands before they get to you.

And so I love that about antics.

So how did you get started doing antiques?

Like, were you already selling antiques before the antique and design center?

Or like, what was the pathway to.

To starting the center?

Let's see.

I took the scenic route to get to where I am today, as I think many people in creative fields do when I.

But when I was a little girl, I would go with my dad to downtown Greensboro to the antique shops, and it was always so fun to just see all the wonderful things and explore and see things that I had never seen before.

And I remember the first antique that I ever bought when I was in college.

The first thing that I bought and paid for was an iron bed to put in my first apartment in college.

And I just loved it.

I thought it was so special.

And it was.

It really.

It added something to a college girl's apartment.

And I studied interior design for a couple of years, and then I changed my major, actually, to psychology, and I graduated with a degree in psychology, which, of course is good for any field that you're in.

But after selling real estate and being.

Becoming a photographer, I ended up in this industry because I came.

I was living somewhere else.

I came back to Greensboro.

Karen Luisana was a family friend, and she needed some help in her showroom, where she was selling antiques and she had been for many years.

So I started helping her.

And everything just kind of evolved into opening a showroom where it wasn't just her, it was, at that time, 45 other antiques dealers, bringing them into High Point.

And now we're up to it, just continues to evolve.

We have 75 wonderful dealers from all over the world, and I have to say, they are the best of the best.

And I learn from them every day.

I am by no means an expert in antiques, but I know when I see something that I love and it speaks to me and it makes me feel something, and I just I learned so much from you when you come do your tours at the Antique and Design Center.

And I definitely have learned so much from Karen, who I first started working with, who is my business partner now, and all the dealers that do our show.

I love you saying this about not being an expert, because I often say I'm not an antiques expert, and it's ridiculous because I know, just like me, just like you, you're one of the leading names in this industry.

But I'm never going to be an expert.

No matter how much I learn, there's always more to learn.

And there's a humility that comes with.

I think of both a humility and a confidence that comes with being able to say what you know and what you don't know.

And for me, if a deal, if I ask a dealer a question and they tell me, oh, you know what?

I don't know the answer to that, I'm gonna find out.

And then they go down the hall and they talk to someone else.

To me, I'm like, oh, that's a dealer I can trust.

And I was asking a friend of mine who's recording it.

Later this week, Mark Hill is on the Antiques Roadshow in the uk and I was asked, I made the comment, I'm never going to be like you.

You.

I'm never going to be a BBC Antiques Roadshow host.

That's just not where my place in the industry is.

And he goes, but, Thomas, he said, all we do is roadshow hosts.

He said, we have our person, they come up, they have.

We have the line, we have a row of people, they have a box of stuff.

We look inside the box and we say, huh, that's really good quality porcelain.

I know nothing about porcelain, but it's clear that's really good quality.

And so he picks out the things that he thinks has value, and maybe none of it is his field of expertise, but then he goes over to the person who is the expert in glass, or in his case, he is the expert in glass.

So that was a bad example.

But he goes over to the person who is an expert in jewelry or is an expert in.

In period paintings or.

And he finds the person who then shares the knowledge.

And it's one of the things I love most about my job is it's.

I'm continually learning and growing.

I'm seeing new things and I get obsessed with new ideas and new ways of.

New ways of decorating, but new ways of seeing that.

Suddenly I've never seen something before.

And it's like, My eyes are opened to a new idea.

Yeah.

Educating your eye is, is so important.

And I think it's also important for me to surround myself with.

With people that know a lot more than I do.

People that are a lot better than me because they help me grow.

They.

Absolutely.

That's my entire business is I surround myself with people who truthfully are a lot smarter than me.

I think, I think that's a good idea for all of us, for sure.

And so, as I was saying, my main career at this point is working with Karen and producing this antique show twice a year.

And then also I do have a little space of my own because it's impossible to not buy things when you're in this business.

And so that's kind of my side thing.

But it's also kind of a creative outlet for me.

I think it's so.

It's really fun.

It's really fun to have a reason to buy stuff because shopping for me is joke.

Yes.

I think we're all high class hoarders.

It's like, we're hoarders, but it's just really good stuff that we're hoarding.

Exactly, exactly.

And again, I'm not.

Like I said, I'm not an expert in antiques, so I just.

When I.

When I find something that I love, that I've never seen before, and that speaks to me, those are the things that, that I end up buying and putting in my space.

And sometimes they're very expensive lessons.

When, you know, you pay, you pay money for something and it doesn't sell and you're like, wait a minute, why?

It's so great, but, you know, it's just waiting for the right person.

You never know who's going to walk in and fall in love with what you have.

So.

Absolutely.

I think if you're buying, if you're buying what you love, you can never make a mistake because worst case scenario, it's in your own house.

Exactly.

The only problem with that is I think a lot of dealers end up saying, oh, but I don't want to get rid of that.

I want to keep that just a while longer.

Exactly.

No, I'm not reducing the price because it would look really good in my house.

So.

Yeah, but you know what?

Those are the things that sell first.

I think my nephew Gabriel Knight is an artist and he, he painted, he painted something recently that he's like.

And he put a crazy expensive price on it because he's like, no, I don't, I don't want to sell this painting right Right.

And he posted a picture of it.

Immediately someone DM'd and he thought of the most astronomical price he could ever consider putting on one of his own paintings, which was still underselling himself if I'm honest.

Right.

And so he put this astronomical price and they said, okay.

And he's like, oh crap, I didn't want to sell that.

He's like, that was the reason why.

Exactly, exactly.

So, yeah, sometimes it makes it worth it, but putting a really high price on something.

Yeah, yeah.

It's going back to what you said about things having energy and all the people who've loved them.

But I think if you really love something, if you really.

People feel that.

Yeah, people feel that, I think.

And then they, they fall in love as well.

So how are you choosing dealers who end up selling in the Antique and Design Center?

Because I know you have a huge wait list people, a lot of people.

Want to sell there, which we're so fortunate to have a waiting list because when we first started we were traveling all over, all over the country looking for dealers.

And no dealer really wants to do a first time show.

They're always a little hesitant.

And so, you know, 15 years in, we are very fortunate to now have a list of people that want, want to come to our show.

And of course we want to see what they do, not necessarily the products they have.

Like if they just send pictures of a product that's not necessarily.

Even if they have great things, we need to see how they set up at a show.

Because our show is very, it's our, our customers are designers.

They want to see a vignette and how things fit together.

And then.

And a lot of dealers, our dealers do a beautiful job of that.

First of all, they have beautiful pieces from all genres, all time periods.

I mean we have mid, mid century modern and we have 18th or 17th century French and Italian.

They do a beautiful job and they bring wonderful things.

They set it up beautifully.

Every time they outdo themselves.

I have to say another important thing though is their energy.

You know, if they are sitting in the back of their space and looking at their phone or their iPad or a book and people walk in and, and they just don't even really talk to them.

That's really not somebody that's going to do well at our show.

So when we used to, well, we still go to shows, but when we were actively recruiting, that is something we really paid attention to, like energy of the person.

They really need to be friendly, at least nice.

Say hello, how are you doing?

I'M here for you if you need anything.

So I think that's a really important aspect as well.

And of course, the best of your back.

Yeah, go on.

So you said your background, you said your background was interior design, psychology and real estate, which I'm thinking, okay, interior design, you understand the designers, real estate, you understand selling and psychology.

Truthfully, I think we all need, we all are end up being a little bit therapist to our client.

And you have an interesting situation with your model in that you, you have to, there's that expression about you can't have, you can't serve two masters, but you have your vendors who are paying to be part of your show and then you have the designers who are coming in and buying from your show.

So you really do have two people you need to be serving.

How do you handle that?

Well, let's see.

Again, we bring in the best people and they are, they're the ones that really create the show.

They're, they're the ones that are doing what the designers want.

Of course, we all, we also have events, we have tour, we have tours like you come and do.

We have book signings and lectures and social events to try to make sure all the designers know that they need to come.

But when they do, like if they come for a book signing, then of course they, they want to of course shop with all of our dealers.

And it's again, I think that our dealers are, I mean, there's no show without them.

We don't do anything.

We would be nothing, of course, without them.

And they just create something so beautiful.

It is magical.

When you walk in, when everything is set up and ready to go, it's, it's a really magical experience.

So I don't know how we kind of serve both.

I mean, we try to do.

You know, Karen, my business partner, has been an antiques dealer for many, many years.

And so when we first started doing this, she completely understood the side of the dealer and what a dealer needs and what they would appreciate.

And instead of just saying, okay, come pay us rent and you know, we'll have a space for you.

Like we need to have, we need to make it as easy as possible for them.

We need to make it easy for them to load in and load out and have help.

And that's how we really help our dealers.

And, and, and then as far as customers, we want to serve them as well.

We want to make something that's beautiful.

We want to make it as easy as possible for them to move things out as they buy things and we have shippers on site, and we're.

We're just there for them if they have any questions or need anything.

So we do try to keep everybody happy.

And.

And I think you succeed.

Succeed in doing it.

I mean, I've been around enough over the years to see you in a variety of situations and to see you juggling everything.

And you always.

I made the comment when we started about seeing your blonde head bobbing around the antique and design center, and you always look like you are calm, and I'm like, I know you can't always be calm.

There.

There are things falling apart occasionally around you, but.

And you're juggling and you always have, like this, Like a serenity.

Like a seriously, a supernatural serenity.

Thank you.

Well, I know that.

I just feel like there's no reason to freak out about things.

They're gonna be what they're gonna be.

Do the best that we can with what we have.

You know, things.

There's always something that's not going to work right or fall apart at the last minute.

And I think we have to just roll with the punches and say, okay, how do we.

What's the solution?

We have a problem.

What can we do next?

And I think it helps everybody.

I think if I can be calm, it helps everybody else to be calm.

But sometimes I can freak out a little bit, too.

I mean, I'm human, and sometimes I do.

Yeah, freak out.

It's impossible not to sometimes.

But you know what one of my favorite quotes is?

Everything's going to be okay in the end.

If it's not okay, it's not the end.

And it.

It will all be okay.

You know, Is this of eternal importance?

No.

You know, there are worse things that could happen, so.

Amen.

Like that.

Really, the number of times I say that to myself is like, I.

Everything's fine right now.

It.

My thing is, maybe I think everything sucks, but in this very moment, maybe I feel like there's a million disasters, but in this very moment, talking to you in one second, it's like, oh, no, I'm fine right now.

And I'm fine right now.

I'm gonna be fine in one second.

And then in one second, take it.

Minute by minute and be in the present.

You know, be where you are right now.

And no matter what's going on, you know, we can usually say, well, right now, at this moment, I am alive, I am healthy.

Every.

You know, everything's going to be okay.

Exactly.

No, I'm glad.

I'm glad that we share that.

It's not over.

If it's not okay, it's not over exactly.

It will all be okay in the end.

So with these three different backgrounds, interior design, real estate, psychology, what I mentioned the obvious things that you use in a day to day basis with what you do now.

But are there other things that you could say your background helps you with your day to day job?

Now I find most of our listeners have had other jobs or transitioning from another job.

And I had, I had a client contact me and she said I'm a nurse.

This has nothing to do with my life.

I don't have any skills that translate and I'm like from being a nurse, what you're keeping calm under pressure.

So I'm just curious of what of those past careers, what other skill sets do you think have transferred with you to help make you successful?

Well, as far as being in real estate, of course I've been in lots of homes and I've, I've always loved interior design and Architectural Digest and all the home furnishings magazines.

And I feel like being in real estate, of course, you know, I see, I saw a lot of things and saw what I didn't like and what I, what I did.

And that of course, as you said about your eye, it just helps you educate your eye.

And then I was also, I also did photography for a little while and so I think that really helped me a lot too because in, in photography I learned, I took lots of classes and I learned about just, just how you set it, how you frame an image, you know, the, the proportions that you see.

Yes.

And that really helps when you're, when you're putting a space together as well to understand, you know, just how things are going to look most beautiful to your eye.

And going back to real estate, another thing that really helped me was just learning how to measure and, and do the math to do school square footage is, and that was, that's really helpful today.

And what, in what I do just being able.

Because I was never a math person like I, I was never good in math in school.

And so when you do real real estate, you actually have to learn quite a bit of math and but it's in a real life situation and so that really helps me today as well.

And then of course psychology is just, you know, it helps you just to talk to people and to understand actually to, to make you want to understand what they are feeling to make you more empathetic to people.

And I think people always appreciate that if you're coming at a situation as you Know, trying to understand what that person is going through, what they're feeling and what they need.

I think knowing you, oh, I've known you at least a decade now.

Probably, probably going on 14, 15 years.

Yeah.

Because you were one of our first speakers.

It's.

I, I would say empathy is one of the characteristics that I started off by talking about your kindness, but I think it's the empathy that probably is even what fuels you being perceived in a.

As kind.

Because I feel like even over the last 14 years, you've seen me some of my.

Through some of my most difficult moments and you've always been empathetic in whatever moment I was in.

And not everybody can be.

So I think empathy really is a key word in relating with other people.

I think it is because we all go through stuff, you know, we all have hard times and, and if somebody is yelling at me or being, you know, because they're upset about something, I just have to go, you know what?

They're probably having a hard day or a hard month, and I just need to be as understanding as possible and try to turn that situation around.

Yeah, it's being solution oriented.

It's what you said earlier about not thinking what the problem is, thinking what the solution is.

Yes, yes.

Now, so high point is twice a year.

So you have it in the spring and the fall.

And how long, I mean, are you working all year long?

Like, how do you prepare for the shows?

Like, what, what does it look like in your life?

We are definitely working all year round for sure.

So we're of course working towards the next show.

As soon as one show is over, we're starting to work on the next one.

So we're figuring out which dealers are going to stay.

And usually that's most of them, but we always have one or two that can't come back for some reason or another.

And we immediately start working on, okay, who's the next best dealer that can fill this spot if somebody can't come back?

And at the same time, we start working on our promotional materials, we start working on marketing for the next show.

We are start planning some travel where we can go visit with our dealers at other shows as well as talk to other dealers, you know, and see if they're ever interested in getting on our waiting list.

Because it's important to have people that, you know, are always ready to come jump in if somebody doesn't come back.

So, yeah, there's, there's a lot to do that people behind the scenes that people don't ever Think about, you know, I don't live in High Point.

I live somewhere else.

But Karen and Annadel that are, you know, my teammates are there.

And so there's a lot of running over to the center to measure something or to, you know, answer a question for someone.

Let.

Let a designer in between shows, because we do.

We don't set up between shows and do other shows, but we people, our dealers do store their inventory with us between shows.

And so we do allow, not all of them, but quite a few.

And so we're open by appointment to designers.

If they want to come in and look around, you know, next week, they can call us and.

And we'll try to accommodate them.

And of course, it's not set up beautifully like market, but there's still beautiful pieces there that they can come find.

I was having a conversation with.

With.

I was having a conversation with Jane Dagme and who used to be the editor of Designer Today, and now she's doing.

She's working with High Point.

Do you remember what her job is?

Her job title is?

I think that she is still running High Point by Design, which is a group.

Showrooms.

Yeah, High Point by Design, a group of showrooms that are open year round.

So we're not technically open year round, so we're not part of that group.

But it's a wonderful way to invite more people to come to High Point between shows, because High Point becomes there's, I don't know, 70,000 people influx during market.

And then between markets, there's not a lot going on.

So it's great to be able to invite people to come and be able to shop in High Point.

People that wouldn't normally maybe even be able to come at market because maybe they're not in the trade.

But there are some of those showrooms that will let the public come in between markets and be able to buy things.

So that's wonderful for the city and.

And for Market.

Well, I was so surprised when she.

When she said this was an option because I never knew that High Point, there was an option of doing appointments in between times.

So also knowing this about your center, it's also, it's just important from my perspective, because a lot of people, people ask me questions.

People assume I know stuff I don't know, but I don't always know the answer, but I usually know the person who does.

And so if I have someone sourcing in between markets, I know to send them to you.

Absolutely.

That's a key thing.

We, you know, you've been in Italy at Mercantin Fiera.

How many years ago was that?

Do you remember?

Oh, it was just 2023.

No, no, no.

It was just like two years ago.

Okay.

Yeah, 2023.

Yeah.

In my mind that was 20 years ago, I think.

Yeah, time is all.

Yeah, time is all relative.

Got crazy after Covid.

I think I feel like I lost several years there, which we did.

But it's okay.

I always.

I always joke that I'm now As.

I turned 51 this year and during High Point, actually I was.

I did my tour.

Oh, did you turn it too?

I did turn 51 this year, yes.

I did not know.

We're the same age.

We look great.

We do.

What was my point of this?

I had a point which I've totally forgotten.

So it had to do with content Fiata.

And you went in 2023.

There was a trick, there was a chain of thinking here in where my conversation went.

So with.

I'm gonna back up on the whole conversation and skip back and then come back to.

So you've been in Italy, so you know what it's like buying overseas.

And one of the things that I often tell people when they're coming.

When someone comes in to me for an antique Steva tour, I will say if you're only looking to buy a few items, if you're not looking to buy a lot, but you're not looking to fill a container, sometimes it makes more sense for you to be sourcing in the US Than it does to be sourcing in Italy or in France.

If you're buying a container, you definitely have a market there.

But if you're buying five items, you.

It's hard from the shipping perspective.

By the time you've paid a bloody fortune for shipping, it's hard to get to feel like you've gotten the deal that you wanted to get in Europe.

And so knowing this about High Point market having options where people can be sourcing between times, of course, I send people to dealers I know in the US And I always refer my clients if someone's looking for something and doesn't want to be paying over shipping.

But I think it's a.

There's a big enough center of antiques which have, are, have antique dealers and centers which have gathered in High Point, I think it's a true destination, even during off market, understanding that some of your dealers are warehousing with you, so.

Absolutely.

And all this I say is.

It's definitely something I'll be referring to people off market as well.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

And you know, a lot of our deal travel to Europe, of course, to buy and they're bringing in containers.

So they are getting the best rates that they can possibly get.

Getting a full container so you can source in the US from the people that already are going to Europe and buying containers full of things.

Of course, it's always fun to go to Europe and I would highly suggest anyone going on a tour with you, of course, like when I went to Italy, of course.

Of course.

And I think any.

For any dealer that wants to start being a dealer or for any person that wants to start being a dealer, what you offer is invaluable as far as teaching people the ropes and helping them figure out how to do the shipping, how, where you need to go for.

For buying.

I loved going to Italy to work into.

I can't even pronounce it.

How do you pronounce it?

The show.

Yes.

Well, it was, it was so wonderful.

And that again is educating my eye, just seeing, seeing what was there.

It was, it was overwhelming how large it is and all the wonderful, beautiful things that are there.

I personally can.

Was not buying a container of things.

So I bought from my dealership.

Yes, I was going to say I took two really big suitcases and, and I bought things that I could bring back in my suitcases.

But again, I, I buy from my dealers all the time that are going there, bring you back containers.

So as I said, it's always fun to go to Europe.

There's like a place too in the Food Chain that I once saw a statue that I've seen change hands five times.

And I know all five people who sold it, and all five people made a profit.

And that's the thing that's so fascinating with antiques is you need to buy something.

You need to buy what you love, buy what you know you can sell at the price you know you can sell it at.

And so sometimes.

Oh, that's.

That's not your market, but it is somebody else's.

Yes, yes, exactly.

Having.

Having been to Mercantin Fiera as a fair organizer, were there things that you found different going overseas and buying versus buying in High Point?

Because I think, or not necessarily High Point, it could be any of the antique places across America.

But I.

From a fair coordinator's perspective, I'm curious your feedback.

Well, I have to say just the scale of the fair there is so much larger than what we do.

And I was extremely impressed with how they, how they get it done.

I mean, there's.

I don't.

Do you know how many dealers are there?

I mean, it's hundreds, if not a thousand.

I don't know.

It feels like a million dealers.

I do not know the answer.

I always say, I know it's Italy's largest antiques fair.

I always say it's in the thousands, but.

It seems like it's in thousands.

It's building after building.

And so as a show promoter, it was very impressive to see.

I mean, we have 75 dealers, and that's a lot.

It's a lot to handle having 75 dealers.

They say they get 60,000 visitors and approximately a thousand vendors.

Yeah, well, it was very impressive just seeing how it was all run so smoothly.

It was.

It was wonderful.

And to see all the trucks in the back, the containers that are just ready to.

To load and ship things, it was just.

The scale of it was very impressive.

And they did.

They do a phenomenal job of doing it smoothly, beautifully.

And everything just seemed to.

To work like clockburn.

Which, honestly, in Italy is quite.

Quite miraculous.

Whenever I moved from Berlin to Venice, I.

It was so funny because it was such a cultural thing, because in Berlin I had, I don't know, we'll say, six moving guys who were completely quiet, who didn't talk.

They packed the boxes.

Everything was packed.

I didn't talk to anybody at all.

And everything went into the truck.

And then I met them here in.

I flew into Venice and I met him here, whatever, 24 hours later.

And they loaded the truck up, they took it over the Alps down into Italy, and it arrived at the port in Venice.

And I knew better.

My German company kept telling me, no, no, we can.

We can do the whole move.

But I know Italians, I know Venetians.

I knew you use a local company, like, if you're in.

It's always good to use a local company, but Venice more so than other places.

And so I asked someone's cousin, a friend of mine has a cousin who did transportation.

And so this cacophony of Italian men show up, and they're all talking and they're all smoking and their music is going.

And in the end, when everybody left and I was kind of like, giving tips for everyone who'd moved me in, I realized there were only six people.

So it was.

It was six people in Berlin and six people in Venice.

However, I would have told you it was 3 in Berlin and 26 in Venice, because it's always laughter and singing and noise and things moving.

Yeah.

But in the end, they were phenomenally productive and they got a lot done.

And for me, it's interesting thinking about how personality wise, I'm much more Mediterranean.

I definitely can be much more chaotic in a cacophony.

And it's interesting to think there's more, to use an expression of my grandmother, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

There's more than one way of doing something that has the same results, but just taking into consideration different ways of thinking, different ways of processing, different ways of.

I.

I don't think there's just one way of behaving and I think this applies.

There's not one way of being an antique stealer.

There's not one way to guarantee your success.

It's like your way of success is using what you do best.

Yes, absolutely.

There's lots of ways to be an antique dealer.

Many of many antique dealers travel around from show to show, unloading trucks, loading trucks, setting up.

It's a.

It's a lot of physical labor besides just being in their space and selling or even going to buy.

I mean, it's a very difficult job.

And then a lot of them have shops where they go set up beautiful shops and then they still pack things up and go to shows.

So there, there are definitely a lot of different ways to skin a cat, as you said.

Yeah, my, my cats would be horrified.

Oh yeah, that's terrible.

I will say, as I said, this is our first time doing this on video, which is a little nerve wracking.

But I keep waiting for the cat to just come up and sit down between me because that's usually what happens.

So funny.

But how can people find you like.

So obviously you want them to follow High Point Antique and Design Center.

But for you and for you selling antiques, can they only find you in the design center?

Are you selling elsewhere?

No, that's really the only place that I'm selling.

I don't have a lot of extra time to go to other shows.

As far as setting up and selling.

I do go with Karen.

We do the Nashville Antique and garden show, which is a beautiful show.

So we do go to other shows, but we really don't go set up any.

You know, I don't go set up anywhere else.

I just.

Yeah, it's so it's a little easier for me because I have, you know, it's not my main thing.

So I can go set my things up.

I can bring things in and bring things out as I find things or as I sell them.

And I don't have, I don't, you know, travel around a lot for that.

With, with the design Center.

Do you have other employees during non market times or is it just the two of you?

During the market?

We also have Annadel who is.

She's an integral part of our business.

She schedules the load ins, the loadouts, she helps with the events.

She also.

We have a couple of gentlemen that help us between markets.

It's not full time, but if we need, if we need something, they come help us.

And, and she is in charge of finding all the labor.

Um, so she's our person that works with us all year round.

And then we have a couple of gentlemen that help us also year round.

Just.

Yeah, it, it takes a village to get things done.

It does.

This is what I learned.

I think a lot of people starting out as an antique sealer, they often try starting off on their own.

And I think having either independent contractors or part time help make or even freelancers hiring agencies, it makes a huge difference.

Yeah.

Yes.

It's hard to find people that only want to work, you know, two weeks a year.

So Annadel actually will bring in her sons and her son's friends, like if, you know, if they can take some time off of work.

But she does a great job just finding people that can be there to help us, which is wonderful.

And also all the ladies that are our greeters and the people that help serve the food and she finds those are her, all her friends that just kind of do it for fun because they want to come be at market.

I mean it's.

We have a wonderful team of people.

Yeah, we have a wonderful team of people.

Again, it takes a village.

We, we certainly could not do it all by ourselves.

So as we're closing up, I would love to hear if you have like a morning routine or is a weekly routine something that keeps you organized and functioning?

That's not a good question.

I am not organized, but I do function.

But I'm.

Yeah, I think a lot of creative people kind of bounce around like I do.

I get up and have my coffee in the morning and sit and relax for a little bit and kind of just get ready for the day and then open up my computer.

And unfortunately I do bounce around.

Oh, here's an email.

Here's somebody calling.

Here's something I have to do.

And then something else gets my attention.

So I'm a little add in that way.

But somehow it all comes together and it all works.

If I just keep, you know, you just have to keep going.

It all gets done.

Yeah.

At the end of the day, it all gets done.

My sister's husband, my Sister's husband said, artist.

My sister is also an artist.

And he told her one morning, he goes, do you realize you never brush your teeth the same time each morning?

And she goes, what I'm talking about.

And he goes, yeah, because for me, he goes, I go in the bathroom, I take my shower, I brush my teeth.

He goes, right, you may brush your teeth first thing.

You may go have breakfast and then brush your teeth afterwards.

He's like, you have no inherent structure.

And so she calls me and she goes, what do you do?

And I said, oh, I'm certain I have inherent structure.

100%.

I do not.

So I'm the same way that I can bounce around.

And I'm always looking for frameworks.

For frameworks that keep me moving forward.

Yes, yes.

I mean, it might be lunchtime before I take a shower some days, or it might be before dinner.

You know, it could be anything.

And I really love the flexibility of what I do because, you know, I can work until 9 o' clock at night, but in the middle of the day at noon, I can go take a shower or I can go do something else.

So I think, as you know, when you're an entrepreneur, your schedule is not nine to five, five days a week.

You know, you're working on the weekends, you're working at night, you might be working at 6am you kind of work when, when there's work to do.

And then you can go do some other things at lunchtime or any, anytime during the day, as long as you get everything done and keep moving.

Like you said, freedom is my second favorite F word.

I really love the word freedom because I feel like to have flexibility, to be free to do whatever I want, it matters a lot to me.

And I will sacrifice a lot in order to have that freedom.

I think a lot of antique dealers feel the same way.

I think that's huge for antique dealers because they do have a lot of flexibility.

And when they work and what they do and they, they.

And they just love what they do.

I mean, hopefully we all love what we do.

And the flexibility and the freedom is something I think is important to them.

Most antique dealers that I know, it would be difficult for them to go work for someone else.

I think they're all such strong personalities and talented, and it would be hard for them to go sit in an office all day long and look at a computer screen because they're creative and they need to be inspired every day and learning every day and doing what they love.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, speaking of love, I loved having you here, I.

And I love what you do.

I'm a big fan of you on both a professional and personal level.

And I just love you and I'm really happy that you joined us.

Thank you.

I feel the same way about you.

And I hope that you'll be coming back to market in the spring.

Okay.

I won't be marketing spring, but I will be in October, so we can already plan it for the fall already.

Unfortunately, yeah.

You have your.

Your spot on the calendar.

Whatever day you want to want to do something, you know.

We love having you.

Thank you.

So, any parting words of where people find you on Instagram or your website?

Just a final how can they find you?

And then we're going to say goodbye and we'll talk to each other later.

Our website for the Antique and design center is hpadc.com so that stands for High Point Antique Design Center.

So although our business name is the Antique and Design Center Pipoint, our website is HPADC and our Instagram is Antique Design ct because you can only have so many letters.

So it's Antique Design CT for Center.

So please find us on Instagram and, and check our website out as well because we are always putting all of our events on there and the dates and all the information about our dealers that you would, you would need to know.

And truthfully, you guys have some of the best dealers in America.

Like it's really.

Again, bravo.

Hats off to you and it was lovely talking to you.

I'll see you.

It's lovely talking to you too.

Thank you.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Business of antiques.

I'm Tom McLark Haines the antique Antiques Viva.

And I'm helping you make your passion for antiques profitable.

Talk to you next time.

Ciao, CIA Sam.