A recently-opened shop on Chardon Square is seeking new homes for old items.
A recently-opened shop on Chardon Square is seeking new homes for old items.
Vintage Hollow, at 115 Main Street, serves as a haven for all things classic and unique, hosting 10 vendors, including the finds of co-owners Meghan Connolly and Karen Miller.
“We have vintage and antique furniture, home decor. We’ve got some new things sprinkled around, especially now for the holidays … a lot of people are in looking for vintage ornaments and pieces,” Miller said, while giving an overview of Vintage Hollow’s stock.
“We also have handmade items,” Connolly added. “We have some local makers, a soap maker, a candle maker, our candle maker makes air fresheners for your car.”
The shop, which opened a month ago, features handmade cards, as well.
Miller intends to begin a build-your-own gift basket offer post-Thanksgiving, with customers paying a nominal fee for the basket and selecting the items they want from around the shop.
Each of the shop’s vendors were carefully selected by the duo.
“We actually handpicked our vendors. We interviewed, we had them send us pictures of what their setup would look like and what their vibe is,” Miller said, adding the shop’s distinct aesthetic has been in their minds from the very beginning.
“They have their own space, so they bring their own items in and they’re constantly restocking, bringing new items in,” Connolly added.
The vendors are the reason why the shop has such variety in its wares, she said.
One prefers mid-century modern, one does traditional antique and depression glass, and so on, with each filling a special niche.
The shop’s vintage finds are sourced from a number of places — estate sales, auctions, thrift stores and donations from the community make up a lot of them.
“We are always on the hunt,” Miller said.
She finds herself drawn to brass and silver, as well as chairs, with Connolly calling her “the chair queen.”
Connolly seeks out “boho” items, often involving wicker, natural fiber, or natural wood, as well as vintage rugs.
“Items call to me,” Miller said. “I can look at something and know that I have to have that piece.”
Connolly and Miller are both locals of Northeast Ohio, with Connolly originally hailing from Solon and Miller currently residing in Concord Township.
A number of factors brought them to Chardon.
“We both have ties to the community just in the network of shopkeepers here and retail spaces because we’ve shopped in this area for a long time,” said Connolly, who is also an attorney.
The vintage shop is located right next door to her law office, which added to its appeal for the duo.
The two originally met as vendors in a shop in Mentor, Connolly said.
They bonded easily, Miller added.
“We knew right away that we had the same feeling for what we were doing when we were vendors,” she said. “We both loved it so much and we connected and here we are now.”
Following the Mentor shop’s closure, they decided to find a space together.
“With this space being right next door to my law office and really sort of the perfect size and shape for us, it kind of just was fortuitous,” Miller said.
Chardon’s reception to their shop has been overwhelmingly positive, Connolly said.
“A lot of people have said this is what Chardon needed,” she said, attributing the positive feedback to the shop’s wide variety of items and price points.
Similar shops in the area have also been supportive of them.
“Antiques on the Square next door sends people, like directs people to come into our shop and we do the same,” Connolly said.
“So does Stephanie at The Nest,” Miller added.
While Vintage Hollow originally began as an online business and is now transitioning to brick and mortar, the owners have always intended the shop to exist in a physical location.
“We found the space and it took a year to get us to the point where the doors were open,” Connolly said.
In the time it took to refurbish the space, Vintage Hollow was active at local events and put up a site to showcase their wares.
Miller described being a vendor and shop owner as something in her blood.
“Even before we were vendors, I’ve always felt this drive for decor, to make vignettes” she said.
Connolly cited a need for something lighthearted as a reason she got into vintage buying and collecting.
“It’s the time when you aren’t thinking about, you aren’t worrying about the past or the future, you’re just browsing and for me, that was therapeutic,” she said.
Connolly said the shop’s size and vendor model is something that sets them apart from other antique shops in the area, as well as the focus on the store’s ambiance.
“We have music that’s customized to what we’re going for. We have a candle lit at the checkout every day, so you walk in and you smell something that’s seasonal. Every light has a dimmer,” she said.
The ability to provide a relaxing environment is important to her and Miller.
“We want it to be a feel-good experience here,” Miller said.
Virtually, Vintage Hollow can be found on Facebook and at vintagehollow.com.
