There has been a whole lot of hard work going on behind the scenes, but the Discover Vintage Marketplace is now officially open! This is the best place to find your online vintage fix and support small vintage businesses from around the country.
Whether your passion is for vintage fashion, you are in the process of seeking out just the right homeware and furniture to create that Instagram-perfect vintage home or you are on the lookout for both, the Discover Vintage Marketplace is the perfect place to browse. We have curated the finest vintage dealers from around the UK, provided them with an online platform and are proud to offer you the opportunity to browse their quality stock.
Why We Need the Discover Vintage Marketplace
As with pretty much every industry, coronavirus has hit the vintage scene dramatically. The vintage fairs that usually take place across the country every weekend have all been cancelled since March, with the outlook on when they will begin again unclear to say the least. Of course, this is entirely understandable, and people’s safety must always come first. However, this shutdown has affected the incomes of the thousands of small vintage businesses that rely on the income they make from presenting their goods to the public every week.
Of course, selling online is one solution, but it is difficult to instantly and completely flip your business from selling at fairs to doing so remotely. Many vintage dealers do have digital platforms, but they vary dramatically in size and some have yet to venture online at all. Building a sustainable audience within a couple of months is a big ask for anyone! The solution is the Discover Vintage Marketplace – one single destination that features the best of the UK vintage scene to make things as easy as possible for customers.
Dealers sign up, upload their stock and we set about promoting and marketing in order to bring vintage lovers through the digital doors. It’s like an online vintage fair, but it is open 24 hours a day. The only downside is that you have to supply your own tea and cake. We can’t do everything!
Meet Some of Our Brilliant Vintage Businesses
Of course, this wouldn’t work if it weren’t for the brilliant vintage businesses featured on our pages. We are very excited to have so many excellent traders sign up before launch, ready to find new homes for their gorgeous vintage clothes, furniture, homeware, art and more. Let’s meet some of them and find out more about them!
retroworld
Nathan O’Driscoll runs retroworld from Weston-Super-Mare, having started dealing in the mid-1990s. However, his love of all things vintage stretches back even further to 1988 when, as a 16-year-old, he discovered the joy of junk shops in his hometown. From there, he started exploring the world of second-hand goods in London and Bristol, and the rest is history.
On the retroworld page on the Discover Vintage Marketplace, you will find mid-century, vintage furniture, lighting and homeware from the 1950s-70s. Nathan says that he is excited to join the Marketplace because “it sounds a very exciting project run by a very experienced, knowledgeable and passionate person in Keeley, and a new way of introducing retroworld to new potential customers.”
Black Sheep Antiques
Husband and wife team Marie and Robert Coomber have been selling original vintage clothing and accessories (including a huge number of hats) since 2013, when Robert left his job in logistics to launch Black Sheep Antiques. Originally they stocked homeware too, but the lure of concentrating on their passions of clothing and hats was too strong and that is what you will find on their page of the Marketplace today.
Speaking about how recent events have affected the business, Marie says, “We love trading at Festival of Vintage and a number of other events as it allows us to speak to all of our wonderful customers in person as well as chatting with the other traders. During these difficult times, we have really missed this sense of community. We think the Discover Vintage marketplace will be a great way to keep this community spirit alive and give customers a single place to access a huge wealth of vintage items.”
A Load of Old Tat
Matthew Airey from A Load of Old Tat Vintage is based in Leicester and traces his love of vintage back to his childhood, when he began collecting the Antiques Roadshow magazine. This early introduction to the industry inspired him to buy and collect vintage goods and he turned it into a business five years ago, selling through Instagram and at fairs around the country.
On his page on the Discover Vintage Marketplace, Matthew has posted a range of delightful items, including West German Pottery, Hornsea, SylvaC, Observer books and anything else he can find, from kitsch to kitchenalia. He is looking forward to the opportunity to connect with vintage fans on the Marketplace. “I wanted a better online presence and to show some of the better pieces I manage to get to a more-focused audience” says Matthew.
Bijou and Vintage
Christine Clarke has been trading as Bijou and Vintage since 2013, but her love of vintage glamour dates back to her student days in the late 1970s, idolising silver screen icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth. Whilst her college friends were wearing loons and tank tops, Christine was seeking out forties and fifties suits, fox stoles and stilettos from flea markets and jumble sales.
Bijou and Vintage stocks ladies and gents quality authentic vintage and designer fashions and accessories, including a range of original vintage and antique bridal wear. All items are personally sourced from private collections, individual owners and a trusted network of traders, ensuring Christine maintains her high standards of quality, condition and authenticity. She also supplies costumes to television shows such as Call the Midwife.
How the Discover Vintage Marketplace Works
There are two main ways to browse the Discover Vintage Marketplace. Either go to ‘Home’ or ‘Fashion’ on the site menu to find categories of stock on offer from across the range of traders. For example, under ‘Fashion’, you can choose ‘Ladies’ and then ‘Bags’, ‘Coats’, ‘Hats’ or anything else to take you to a selection of items you are interested in.
The other way to use the site is to browse the ‘Dealers’ section. Once you find a vintage business that takes your fancy, click through to see all the vintage goodies that they have on offer.
When you find that perfect item that you NEED to have, simply click through to buy directly from the dealer. You can also fill in a form to ask them any questions you might have about the product, which they will be more than happy to answer.
Once you have made your purchase, don’t forget to review and rate the trader to help other vintage lovers find the items that will bring joy to their lives!
Thank you for visiting the Discover Vintage Marketplace and supporting small vintage businesses. Enjoy looking through the beautiful products on offer.
