Looking for an incredibly unique item that might not be found anywhere else, Vintage Finds and Fabrics might be the community hub that offers just what a person might look like. The store, which is only open on Saturdays in the City Centre Mall, was first introduced to Weyburn by Tara Keating-Jaap and her husband Dave late last year, just before Christmas. 鈥淚t was just a little second-hand store that we set up, so that we could sell these items that came from a family member.鈥�
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 entirely certain that vintage would be a huge hit in a small community, but surprisingly it has been. At first, we were only open for about 10 weeks and sold a lot of household items. But we were not sure what to do with all the fabric, yarn, and vintage clothing that we had found,鈥� said Keating-Jaap.
Tara and Dave were making donations of the clothing to second-hand stores in Regina and Weyburn, but then when COVID-19 became a pandemic, those places did not accept donations anymore. 鈥淲e realized that we really needed to bring more items back to Weyburn, house them here (in the City Centre Mall) and really try to sell them.鈥�
鈥淭here was just an insurmountable amount of fabric and yarn that was never used,鈥� noted Keating-Jaap. 鈥淲ith this amount of fabric was difficult to donate to any one place. There is just such a vast variety of fabric and we saw that there was a purpose for these items to be used.鈥�
鈥淢ost of the vintage clothing also have their original tags attached since they were never worn. We have clothing all the way back to the 1940s all the way to the 1990s.鈥�
The fact that Vintage Finds and Fabrics offers something unique to Weyburn, it attracts a lot of people into the store itself, even though it is only open on Saturdays, in conjunction with Open Air Market.
It is important to note that Vintage Finds and Fabrics does not accept consignments. 鈥淚f I could do this full time, I likely would鈥� because it is a lot of fun. But consignments would be very timely, and it would be a lot of work,鈥� said Keating-Jaap.
鈥淲e are doing well enough on our own, just to get rid of the items we have accumulated on our own.鈥�
Both Tara and Dave are appreciative of the partnership they have with Open Air Market. 鈥淕reg Rideout approached us because we weren鈥檛 sure how to continue this. Both my husband and I work full time, so we knew we could not start a more permanent store. We could not be open more than one day a week. Luckily with Open Air Market already in the City Centre Mall on Saturdays, it works well.鈥�
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that needs to be done before the materials hit the shelves. 鈥淧eople do not believe us when we tell them that (the items on display) are maybe a third of the amount of clothing. We have racks of clothing in our home that are hanging and 小蓝视频 steamed and ironed. The fabric is now all neatly displayed at the store, and we still have lots of neat trinkets and old toys that are astonishingly selling quite well.鈥�
Tara noted that the older sewing and crocheting patterns are selling quite well, and their clients are very appreciative of the old vintage patterns. Tara and Dave love seeing patrons come into the store and appreciate the fact that the items are 小蓝视频 bought and used.
鈥淲e are a pop-up store, that is how we started. But I do not see any end for us right now. We want to continue to try to sell as many of the items that we can,鈥� added Keating-Jaap.
