Courtesy Vintage Market Days
Nine years ago, Chanda Hakanson launched Vintage Market Days St. Louis inside a small horse barn in Eureka. “When I started this I could barely get 25 vendors,” says the entrepreneur. On September 16-18, Hakanson will welcome more than 130 vintage and antique vendors to the St. Charles Convention Center for a three-day shopping event. Hakanson spends the year visiting top dealers across the country, curating a selection of furniture, fashion, jewelry, and home decor to sell to the roughly 20,000 people who will walk through the front doors. “I'm constantly going to the coasts and bringing [things] back so that we don't have to wait for them in the Midwest,” she says. We talked to Hakanson about her love of vintage and why it matters what you buy.
What are Vintage Market Days?
Vintage Market Days are different from a flea market or festival. I personally go all over the country looking for the best vendors with beautiful setups and unique things, and I get them to come to my market.
What do your vendors sell?
We have different categories. We have vintage [furniture], we have vintage-inspired [furniture]. Some vendors buy vintage and upcycle it. They put their own touch on it. We have sign vendors, candle makers. If you’re a sign or candle maker, it has to be your own creation. We have vintage jewelry, estate jewelry, and a couple of vendors who make their own jewelry. We have vintage clothing and boutique clothing that is one-of-a-kind and contemporary.
Set the scene for us. What’s the atmosphere like?
We make this a big event. We have a band playing and we have giveaways throughout. I do swag bags for the first 25 in line. I'm constantly walking around and giving gifts away to customers. It's also turned into a huge mother-daughter event.
What types of items are you buying when you’re out looking for things to bring back?
Decorating has been streamlined into more of a clean palette, if you will. And so I'm looking for vendors that have unique items that people can add and mix with modern and vintage. Those are the types of vintage sellers that are the best.
What is the most popular selling item at the market?
I would say the furniture. You're going to get a piece of furniture that a seller has bought, maybe at an estate sale. They’ve brought it home. They’ve secured it, it's real wood, solid. People want to have something that nobody else is going to have.
How did you become interested in selling vintage?
My dad is an auctioneer. My mom was a professional seamstress. I was raised going to estate sales and going to auctions. And, then, my parents started flipping furniture as a hobby. From a young age I was in the mix of the whole vintage market scene.
Does sustainability play a role in your work?
Each one of our events has a theme…and my very favorite was “Save the Earth, Buy Vintage.” We're upcycling what we have and reusing what somebody already had in their life. When you're somebody who buys vintage, you start to realize that all this stuff has a really cool energy about it. There's a story.
What are some of your tips for shopping vintage?
Do a run through of your house. Get rid of the things that you don't love. If you don't have the space open in your mind, then when you see something that you love at the market you're like, ‘Oh, I don't have room for that but I love it so much.’ If you prep yourself and get ready for the market, then it's a magical thing. You have to make room for it within the energy of your own home. Usually, if people do this, it's the craziest thing. They just walk right in and find what they’re looking for.
