Four Inane Questions with Awesomesauce Vintage Shop’s Ryann Waller

Photo by Abigail McCubbin

Ryann Waller has an unbridled passion for antique and vintage items. She says her love of everything antique and vintage was heavily influenced by her parents. “Often on Sundays after church, we would wander around antique shops, estate sales, and vintage shops as a family,” she says. While Waller may have grown up in the 1980s, her world and home was made up of beautiful items and memories from the early 1920s – 1970s. 

Right before the pandemic, Waller took a leap of faith and opened her own old-school boutique, Awesomesauce Vintage Shop, in late 2019. “It took off considerably faster than I ever imagined it would,” she says. She adds every single item you see in her shop was hand-selected by Waller herself.

In addition to selling unique antique and vintage items, Waller is also a certified personal property appraiser, estate sale operator, and offers interior/staging services. Need high-end dinnerware rental services for bridal and baby showers, private parties, and weddings, Waller is your gal.

When she’s not busy honing her fab, quirky-kitschy inventory, she says part of the fun is using her creativity in the photographing and writing of her listings. Oh, and she’s also proud of her recent collab with California-based hip-hop guru Locksmith, and Lawrence, KS musician and producer Johnny Quest/John McCluskey.

We caught up with the maven of mod memorabilia as she was gearing up for the onslaught of holiday shoppers to pepper her with our four inane questions. She ran with all of ‘em—uh, in red shoes. Read on!

The Pitch: What’s been your most impulsive and/or spendy purchase—that you returned later?

Ryann Waller: When I shop, I try to shop like I mean it, which means I usually don’t return things. 

One time I bought a paint sprayer gun that I later returned. I thought I’d be able to tackle a home project with it, but later realized I knew nothing about it or the brand. It wasn’t cheap and seemed more like a jigsaw puzzle than a paint spraying gun to me.

Money is no object. What’s your dream pair of shoes? 

I would choose Stuart Weitzman’s Wizard of Oz ruby stilettos! There is nothing like a great pair of sparkling red shoes to make you feel glamorous, and those would do the trick. Red shoes are thought of representing the “wild” woman, but they also represent a woman’s strength and enduring power.  

I am from Kansas and there’s no place like home, so it is always fun to wear red shoes. I will keep on dreaming because these shoes are way out of my budget. 

Finish this sentence: The worst foodie gift in the world to receive is …

… black licorice and white chocolate anything! 

The thing about both of those is that you either love it or hate it. I’m not a fan of either.  Neither of them is actually good for you, and white chocolate isn’t even really chocolate. It’s risky business giving a gift like that.

What’s a hard-to-find, vintage piece of 80s nostalgia you covet, but can’t find? Like, the holy grail of memorabilia?

I have always been a David Bowie fan, so it would be so cool to get my hands on David Bowie’s 1989 ‘Sound + Vision’ CD. The album is very rare because only 350 copies of it were made. The CD includes both live and studio Bowie recordings. It is a vintage-music-unicorn find.

Bonus 5th Question: What’s a perfume or fragrance that needs to be permanently retired? 

I hate to say it out loud but Patchouli. It really isn’t that bad, but some people just totally overdo it. I feel like if people aren’t using it for medicinal purposes, then it’s best to just steer clear of that stuff.