Kellye Hollis found this fabulous MCM piece in an alley in New York City.
From Staff Reports
Kellye Hollis “caught the vintage bug” early in life by going to local Oklahoma junk auctions on Saturday nights with her parents. When she graduated from college and moved to Dallas, that love for treasure hunting stayed with her, prompting her to, as a hobby, have mall spaces over the years at Love Field Antique Mall, Lula B’s, High Street Antiques & Design and North Dallas Antique Mall.
Then in 2014, she said, “I decided to give my love for ‘junkin’ my full attention, and I started an estate sale business.” Then earlier this year, she checked off another item on her to-do list and headed north.
“I’d always dreamed of living in New York City,” she said. “So in February of this year, I found tenants for my Preston Hollow condo, put my belongings in storage and rented a small apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
“Not sure what the future holds,” she added, “but something tells me it will have something to do with my passion for treasure hunting.”
This week, Hollis agreed to share some tips on where and how to find some treasures of your own — and maybe even make a buck or two along the way.
- Go to thrift stores, and go often. Some hardcore shoppers drop in the good ones more than once a day. When the items are priced to sell, the merchandise sells quickly. A really good thrift store can look completely different from one day to the next.
- Brake for garage sales (or at least slow down)! When you see a sale, coast by and see if something grabs your eye. My experience is, if you see something interesting from the road, more treasures await, and it will be worth the stop. Plus, cool furniture is easy to spot from your vehicle. But don’t go to brunch first! The good stuff sells early.
- Check estatesales.net for the sales that interest you. Then go bright and early on the first day of the sale if you want first dibs on the good stuff. The biggest discounts take place on the last day of the sale. But if you find something really great, and it’s calling your name, answer that call. You can’t count on it being there on half-price day.
- See something, buy something. The dealers at the cool vintage shops and malls work hard to find the best stuff. They generally price the merchandise to turn their spaces over quickly, because they always have more great stuff to bring in. So, if you see something you like, better grab it while you can. It won’t last long in their cool space, and who knows if you will ever see it again.
- One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure! When I moved to NYC, I was shocked to see what the Manhattanites discard as trash. In my neighborhood on the Upper East Side, bulk trash pickup is every Saturday morning; so guess what I do on Friday nights! My apartment is super small, but I’ve dedicated a tiny little area of it to cleaning up and photographing small, apartment-sized furniture I find on the sidewalk. If it’s really cool, I find a place for it in my apartment and “parlay” something I don’t like quite as much. Then I list the items on Facebook Marketplace, priced to sell, to make room for more Friday night treasures!
