Vintage Shop Hop For A Weekend Of Vintage Shopping Heaven
A self-guided tour through the countryside of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, 167 towns and over 400 locally owned stores? Sounds like the perfect girlfriends getaway. Vintage Shop Hop is for shopaholics and fervent boosters of small business. "This event has become for many their biggest selling weekend. It's an economic 'shot in the arm' for these small shops," says Ann Campos, founder and event producer of Vintage Shop Hop or VSH for short. Now in its' ninth year VSH has spread across the Badger State now even reaches north of Green Bay.
With Vintage Shop Hop's primary focus on antiques and collectables, attendance and participation in the event has exploded. Campos credits the popularity of tv shows like HGTV, Magnolia Home, Flea Market Flip fueling an interest in anything vintage. Big Box chic is best for model home tours with their throw blankets and abundance of pillows. You might find those items at participating VSH stores but you are more likely to find one of a kind, or unique pieces that speak more aptly to your own personal design tastes. "With a unique 100 year old piece of furniture in your house--or an antique typewriter on your desk--or a collection of ironstone pitchers--or a shelf full of amber glass bottles--you can be the envy of your neighbor," quips Campos. And buying vintage is about customization. 'Chalk paint,' wallpaper, or adding new drawer pulls can turn an ancient, dusty curio into a hip feature of any room or apartment.
What are vintage fanatics seeking? Campos checks off a list of must finds: Anything copper, Ironstone, animal mounts (yes, taxidermy is in.) Mid-century modern, that Mad Men design esthetic is still popular. And if you ever watched an episode of American Pickers you know that any vintage automobile memorabilia, gas and oil signs, pumps, ads, or beer industry related, vintage toys, and those always pitted porcerlain signs are still hot. And that craze of yore when Hong Kong business executives got in their private jets to procure vintage, American made turntables, cabinet stereos, console tvs they bought on eBay may not be a thing, but those items are still very popular for vintage seekers. And not being online is a very strong selling point of Vintage Shop Hop especially if you are thinking about spending time with friends, and all those empty Amazon boxes and needless plastic packaging that ecommerce generates.
Ann Campos' passion for vintage started as girl when she attended auctions with her dad. From there she found herself decorating her apartment and later in life, home with items she had found or purchased from antique stores. That intimate knowledge and interest in vintage finds combined with her career as a marketer for Illinois Tourism and Marketing led her to create Nellie's Barn Sale an event filled with music and up to 65 vintage vendors she put on in her backyard. She added a Spring Vintage Shop Hop to her offerings but four years ago ended the Barn Sale as her husband's chronic injury lingered. "We decided to stop the barn sale, and instead I added a fall shop hop in it's place. So now I do just the Vintage Shop Hop twice a year," says Campos.
What does Ann Campos collect you may ask? She likes "vintage Bibles and Rosaries. Child of Prague statues. Antique books. Leather coin purses. Ironstone creamers. Transferware dishes. GULF gas station or Smith Oil items (her dad's old business), especially from Rockford. Anything with the numbers of my birth year, my husbands, my sons or my parents."
For Campos being a vintage fanatic is about the LOVE OF THE HUNT.
"I have lots of collections in my home. The thrill of find something to add to those collections is why I love shopping vintage. It's also the 'provenance'--knowing the history of a piece. Wondering how it got separated from the original owner," Campos says.
Like rings in a fallen oak, all the history is there in a single vintage piece. "Sort of the 'if walls could talk'...I'd love to know who owned the piece when it was new. Where did they buy it? Was it a gift? All of that. History grounds us. It's who we are," says Ann.
Vintage Shop Hop runs this Friday October 7 through Saturday 8th across Wisconsin and parts of Illinois. For more information check out VSH' Facebook or visit https://vintageshophop.blogspot.com.
