The Thrill of the Hunt: Understanding the art of antiquing in KC

Weird Stuff Antiques. // Photo by Erin Woodiel

Imagine that you enter a store, taking in a massive collage of color, texture, and style. You carefully squeeze through aisle after aisle, moving between shelves and towering piles of boxes. A model airplane hanging in the corner catches your eye. Your shoulder brushes a rack of furs. You open a creaky roll-top desk to find antique doorknobs in one of its drawers.

Eventually, you emerge victorious, having found something one-of-a-kind. Something with a story and a history. It is a perfect addition to perhaps a collection, wardrobe, or home decor.

Antique stores are known for their hidden gems, curated to present customers with the most eye-catching, unique finds. But how do these rich collections of antiques make their way into Kansas City shops?

Weird Stuff Antiques. // Photo by Erin Woodiel

Willing to look anywhere

Antiques dealers are constantly on the lookout for their next score. They scope out auctions, estate sales, internet ads, garage sales, piles of junk on the curb, and even other antique stores. It’s all fair game.

“I’ll buy anything if it’s cheap,” says Terry Sanchez, owner of Weird Stuff Antiques.

Anyone who walks into his store leaves with a “Wanted!” flyer listing everything from cars and motorcycles to neon signs, leather biker jackets, guitars, coin-operated machines, taxidermy, and art deco collectibles. Word of mouth is the business model Sanchez has used for decades, and while the internet has made it easier for people to send him photos of items for sale, he still counts on personal relationships for the best finds.

“It used to be a cup of coffee and a cigarette, circling newspaper ads,” he says. “Now people go on the internet to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. That’s the new shopping.”

The ease of online shopping and the rise in popularity of shows like American Pickers have changed the landscape of antique and vintage item buying.

“As crazy as it is, everybody’s a picker now,” says Sanchez.

An extra level of business savvy and experience is what he feels sets seasoned antiques buyers apart from first-timers comparing their items to the going rates on eBay. If he asks someone to name their price and they start researching similar items on their phone, Sanchez says he loses interest. He wants to find deals organically using the old-school, in-person approach.

Heather London, owner of Urban Mining Antiques, agrees that as interest in vintage and antiques has gone up in recent years, sourcing items has become more difficult. However, she says that the added challenge does make the hunt even more satisfying when she scores big.

London’s favorite find came from the estate sale of University of Kansas art professor Nick Vaccaro and his wife, Luella. Both were artists in Lawrence who primarily worked in the 1950s and ‘60s. Rooms were filled with large fine art paintings, pottery, and Vaccaro’s “magic boxes”—three-dimensional mixed media vignettes.

“The whole house was just oozing with the most amazing things,” says London. “People were coming through and talking about how these two were the best people. I still get goosebumps because it’s such beautiful work, and I heard so many stories about this couple, and it all just sort of tied together.”

Discovering a piece of local history can often turn an interesting item into a must-have.

Urban Mining Antiques. // Photo by Erin Woodiel

What sells

So, how does an antique seller know what their customers will want? There are about as many ways to approach antique buying as there are people who do it. When the name of the game is one-of-a-kind finds, every customer comes in expecting something different.

Jessica Caulkins, owner of River Market Antiques, has seen 12-year-olds saving their allowance to start a coin collection or buy some retro Hot Wheels. She’s seen couples in their 90s rediscovering items they remember from their own childhood. People come in seeking specific vintage Pyrex patterns, hardware from old home salvage, or sentimental pieces of Kansas City history that remind them of a late relative.

Urban Mining Antiques. // Photo by Erin Woodiel

That said, as it is with any retail venture, trends do ebb and flow in the realm of the vintage.

Caulkins has spent 17 years managing a building of roughly 165 vendors, and she’s seen plenty of throughlines in her customer base’s interests.

The current trend with the strongest hold? Mid-century modern furniture. Caulkins watched the number of mid-century dealers “skyrocket” about 15 years ago, and the demand for it still hasn’t died.

“It’s a style that looks good in lofts,” she says. “It’s simple and can really fit in a lot of different homes. I think as more loft dwellers came down to Kansas City, they put in more apartments with large open spaces.”

Trends can also be short-lived. Caulkins remembers a bridal magazine several years ago featuring glass milk bottle vases as wedding centerpieces. That season, vintage glassware was all the rage.

“I tell you what, they were flying out of here,” she says. “You see something vintage in a magazine, and all of a sudden, everybody wants it.”

London’s boutique-style pop-up antique store draws more like-minded clientele. The 30 vendors at Urban Mining each have a unique eye, but London generally knows that those who visit her store want high design, clean lines, and classic architectural elements in their furniture.

She does, however, think geography plays a role in what’s trending for consumers. Different Kansas City neighborhoods come with different tastes in home decor.

“I’m always surprised about that,” Caulkins says. “There’ll be stores maybe 6 miles from us that are selling things I feel like we couldn’t get away with in our store. But it sells like hotcakes not that far from here.”

After 50 years of selling vintage items, Terry Sanchez doesn’t bother trying to keep up with what’s “in.” He certainly noticed when he sold nearly 500 bicycles last year, and just went these past three months without selling a single one. Change has been a constant in his business.

Old signs, cars, and musical instruments are the items Sanchez can always find a clientele for.

Everything else comes down to novelty to keep people coming around.

“If I keep it fun, I can always sell it,” Sanchez says.

River Market Antiques. // Photo by Erin Woodiel

‘It’s what we live for’

There’s no single way to appreciate antiques, but local dealers agree they got into the business purely for the love of it.

Sanchez has been reselling old things his entire life. Even the shop cat, Callie, who roams Weird Stuff Antiques, was picked up at an estate sale after the previous owners left her behind.

“There’s always something new and different and unusual,” Sanchez says. “Without fail, I still learn something every week, and I get to talk to like-minded people.”

Caulkins has an affinity for anything vintage, with Art Nouveau as her current favorite era. But her pride in her work comes from resisting the “throwaway” culture she sees in much of today’s society.

“We feel like we’re the original recycler,” she says. “So much is made poorly and thrown away, and it’s killing our earth. I think it’s so important in this day and age to buy used and refurbish.”

And at its core, for both sellers and buyers alike, much of antiquing comes down to the thrill of the hunt.

“That’s what we live for,” says London. “When you find something really outrageous, it’s kind of a high, like that’s the Holy Grail. That’s what it’s all about.”