If you’re new around here (and who isn’t - it’s our first post), then welcome. Our main hustle is stationery brand The Completist, but a little over a year ago we got the opportunity to take over the perfect space (former gallery, literally across the alleyway from our The Completist store - convenient (because I never like to travel far) and visually pleasing). A rushed month and the side hustle Etc.Store was born. It’s part shopping addiction in store form, part extra creative outlet and part (main part) place where I can showcase the amazing brands we meet and make friends with at the various trade shows we do. Being in the independent creative business world means I’m naturally exposed to many more businesses than I would as a regular punter because… well I’m kind of always looking at what things other brands (not in my space) are doing that I love. So now I sell these brands in my store and I love being able to support my friends and bring new things into people’s awareness.

So aside from all of the above, mixing in vintage pieces with our favourite brands was the second idea we had when setting up Etc.Store (the first was to paint our ceiling the dreamy Yes Colours Electric Blue, because a girl's gotta have priorities). Whenever we travel, we've always gone into antique stores, found amazing treasures and wanted to take them with us. But there's always that pesky reality asking where we're going to put it (hi small London apartments) and how we'd even get it home (hi suitcase filled with trinkets and shopping). So, you know, opening your own store is a very good way to justify buying these bits... though it's very hard to let them go to their new homes. You'll be proud of us though, he haven't kept any for ourselves... yet.

Anyway, when we came up with this idea, our friend Beth at Greenwich Letterpress (who just got a Neil Patrick Harris related mention on the DeuxMoi instagram account, so she's totally famous) said that Adamstown PA was hands down the best place for antiques in the USA. And if you know Beth and her store, you know that she's right and you have to go immediately. So we did, this Summer, after our usual showing at Shoppe Object (two birds, one stone at its very finest). Thankfully, even though the USA is obviously enormous, Philadelphia is a short train ride from NYC, and Adamstown is only a couple of hours drive from there (you know, it would've been faster had there not been roadworks, a tropical storm and several accidents, but take our word for it - it's not far when conditions are in your favour)(if they aren’t, pack snacks and have a good podcast queue ready).

This whole area is called Antiques Capital USA, and it's nearly 7 miles of stores of all sorts. I can tell you one thing for sure - 1 day was not enough (we only made it through 2 places, and that was at quite a clip). We started at Mad Hatter Antique Mall - as soon as you walk in, it's danger zone. Cabinets full of jewellery and trinkets greet you at the door (did I buy a few bracelets for $3 each? Yes I did). Kitsch election ephemera was plentiful and honestly looks positively wholesome compared to our current climate. So here's the thing - the mall is ENORMOUS and there aren't many people around. There's LOTS to look at, so arriving well-hydrated and caffeinated is recommended. It helps that the people working in these places loved having excited Londoners to chase after (you grab everything you want, leave it in a hutch and settle up at the end, and they insist on taking it all to the hutch for you).

I started the day not knowing that people collected salt and pepper shakers (I mean, of course they do, but it had just never crossed my mind) and ended the day aspiring to be one of them (a collector, not a salt and pepper shaker set). Who knew people in the olden days got so creative with them? Not me, apparently, but I am fully on board. In general, the types of products you find in these places are amazing and sometimes non-existent in this modern world. For example, glove dryers (that is, flat little plastic hand shapes that have an open crosshatch texture, so you could put your gloves over them at the end of a rainy day to let them dry quickly) - totally genius, and not needed today at all. But so delightful. I do regret leaving behind the Elizabeth Taylor Barbie doll... and the Princess Diana wedding dress doll (complete with a 2.5 foot train on her dress... and an oddly mullety hairdo - presumably from the ravages of time). We just had such a good time discovering amazing things we fell in love with, in a place that we might not have visited otherwise. In fact, we loved it so much we're going back again in February and will report back (this time it’s as much reporting the weird/amazing/fantastic things we find, as sourcing them to bring to the store).

So what did we bring back? Oh some really great things. Lots of tomato related things (yes, lots of tomato shaped salt and pepper shakers). A salt and pepper shaker set that is a toaster, with two pieces of toast - that is, the brown toast is for pepper and the white for salt. Plus there was a button on the side to make the pieces move up and down in the toaster AND it came in its original box. A lobster claw ashtray. 2 sets of lobster-related salt and pepper shaker sets. A jam jar shaped like an artichoke. Watermelon salt and pepper shakers. SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS make me hyperventilate in a good way (can you feel that coming through right now??) I know people loved these as much as we did because they sold before I even got decent pics (sorry)(I have rubbish iPhone pics if you’re desperate). I still have the Japanese pink plastic cup and saucer picnic set, complete with its original box (so I’m a bit lazy with the photos, can’t be a perfect business owner all the time). And I have posted some of the stuff on the vintage section on our website, so I’m not 100% lazy with pics, maybe just like 70% lazy.

ANYWAY. That’s enough for one post, here’s some pics of the things we loved, but didn’t buy.