I had an epiphany recently. My theatre life and my vintage life are more connected that I originally thought…
When I started thrifting around for my 1956 ranch house I would often see great items that I knew my friends and others collected and might want. I often saw items that needed a little cleaning up, but after I spent that time, they looked perfectly ready for a new life. I also became very aware that many people wanted to have vintage items in their homes, but just don’t always have the time to go out seeking like I do. Also, I obviously can’t keep everything I find, but the treasure hunt is an aspect of vintage collecting that I truly enjoy. I opened my Mod Bettie Etsy shop last year and became dedicated to finding midcentury items for resale. Selling online has been successful for me; I got great feedback from buyers and but got most excited when I would occasionally get a personal note from someone that was happy with their purchase and that was awesome. I sold some items locally in Charlotte and would get to meet the buyers face-to-face; I realized I really loved hearing about the ‘why’ behind their purchase and chatting with them a bit about the items. Even though I have always been a fan of the swanky style and clever design of the midcentury time period , I was becoming completely charmed by people’s evident connections to the items through their personal experiences.
I participated in my first Vintage Charlotte Pop-Up Market last June and realized that I loved meeting other vintage and midcentury resellers and being a part of a community of people that were dedicated to re-homing items while also typically satisfying their own obsessions with vintage collecting. During the event itself, my most favorite part was watching people view the vintage items and actually being able to see the moment the memories appear across their faces-I just LOVED this! The selling was fun too, but truly secondary to the reactions and conversations I was having with really fun vintage-loving customers like myself. I did an second an (even more) successful pop up event at Christmas with Vintage Charlotte and that sealed it for me. I wanted a booth, and I knew where I wanted it be.
I have shopped for what seems like years at Sleepy Poet – Charlotte’s biggest and best Antique Mall. When I moved into my new house near my beloved Park Road Shopping Center it became so convenient to go there on a regular rotation with some of my other favorite places. Mr. ModBettie and I would often stop in on our Friday nite date night pre-dinner to look at all the fab vintage goodies. The fact that when first dated we used to do this out at the flea market on weekends is not lost on me- I’m sure there’s a bit of nostalgia working on me there too. You don’t always have to buy- many times it’s just fun to go and nose around and see what you can see, look at how it’s displayed, dream about future house projects and chat about it of course. Perfect date nite to me!
So starting in February of this year, and thanks to tons of help from the supportive Mr. Modbettie, I now have a booth at one of my favorite places to shop!
It’s on Aisle 18, down from the awesome vintage vinyl section and behind the fun clothing and housewares at Kitch-y Cool Vintage. It’s painted midcentury mod aqua blue so it’s pretty hard to miss. The best part: I’m selling what I love: midcentury housewares, mod wall art, kitschy kitchen items (Pyrex! Fire King!) swanky barware, just in time for the Mad Men season Premiere-and more…
I had great first month, despite the snow here in NC and it’s been so much fun seeing pictures of re-homed items from my booth in their new spaces on my ModBettie Facebook page and instagram feed too- (Are you on ig? It’s great for vintage and midcentury décor, fashion, ideas and more. Find me there @modbettie – I love to preview items headed to the store! ). I have felt really welcomed by the selling community and friendly staff at Sleepy Poet– something I always appreciated about them when I was a customer there. I do love a good hunt and I have already been successful at sourcing some specific items for clients around town. Hint: a new restaurant opening in Charlotte in April will have vintage chicken salt and pepper shakers all sourced by ModBettie!
Looking for a specific mod vintage item? Contact me directly at modbettie (at) gmail (dot) com and I will go on the hunt for you. Just wanna browse around? Come and see my booth on Aisle 18 at Sleepy Poet! And if you catch me there please say hi- if you’re in a mood to discuss your midcentury favorites, know that I’m always going to want to hear YOUR story….
ModBettie 