Time flies when you're having fun...

The past year does in fact seem to have passed by in a blur for retroda!  So much has happened, is happening right now, and will be happening in the very near future.  I hope all of that grammar is correct!

Here's a brief recap of what's going on with retroda:

Long Beach Antique Mall II - still running my business at this store as it continues to develop and build a customer base. Lots of new dealers have moved in and there's always something new to see.

inretrospect - This store's popularity continues to grow.  Lots of publicity from magazine and newspaper articles, as well as some amazing special events hosted by the owners.  I am currently working on a major expansion at this store - stay tuned for a location update coming soon!

Warehouse 1333 - Last year I opened a "shop within a shop" at this store in Long Beach.  The store features an eclectic mix of product and sells a lot of furniture.  I have mixed an assortment of Mid-Century goods, plus industrial/salvage and vintage office items including tanker desks, file cabinets, and other accessories.

Orange Avenue Estate, Salvage, & Garden - As of last Fall I no longer have a dealer space in this store.

One Kings Lane - A successful launch on the One Kings Lane website forced a quick learning curve on running a vintage e-commerce business!  Photographing products, listing them for sale, staying in-stock with shipping boxes and packing supplies, and packing and shipping orders have added new tasks to the daily workload.  Busy = success.  Bring it on!

Long Beach Antique/Flea Market - retroda is no longer selling at the show, but you might see us shopping the aisles now. Watch for the overflowing carts headed to the parking lot!

That's a wrap.  Will try my best not to "fall off the wagon" again, especially since its a vintage Radio Flyer!

Live on One Kings Lane!

Upcoming items to be featured in the retroda shop at One Kings Lane

This week marked the start of e-commerce business for retroda. The first few items have begun to be offered for sale on the One Kings Lane website.  retroda is featured in the Vintage & Market Finds section where each day you will find hundreds of items that have been selected by One Kings Lane merchants to be offered for sale for five days only.

There is also a page where you can see just the current offerings from retroda:  https://www.onekingslane.com/shop/retroda 

Things appear to be moving quickly and two items sold this week on their first day up for sale:

Embroidered Pillow Sham from retroda at One Kings Lane

Mid-Century Barware Collection from retroda at One Kings Lane

It's an encouraging sign and hopefully an indicator of future success!  Check out the website and the retroda shop and let me know what you think!

Happy First Anniversary - Long Beach Antique Mall II

It's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since I was one of the first dealers to move into the Long Beach Antique Mall II. The mall got a very fast start in the antique/vintage marketplace and has had a waiting list to rent a dealer space almost since opening. There is a dedicated following of interior decorators, set designers, and vintage collectors and more people are discovering the store every day. With more than 50 dealers regularly bringing in items, you never know what treasures you might find!


To celebrate the one year anniversary, the store is having a 2-day party on Father's Day weekend, June 16th & 17th. Many dealers are running specials on their entire inventory which is pretty rare for this store. retroda will be participating by offering a 20% discount on all items for these two days only. If you've had your eye on something recently, it is definitely time for action! Come see us this weekend and help us celebrate!

One Kings Lane

I am super excited to officially announce the launch of an online business for retroda through the website One Kings Lane. One Kings Lane was founded in 2009 as an online "flash sale" website featuring designer home furnishings and lifestyle products. Today there are more than 3 million registered customers who watch the site regularly for curated sale events that last only five days. One Kings Lane also regularly features "Tastemaker Tag Sales" from top interior designers with some of their recent events coming from Robert & Cortney Novogratz and some of the "Million Dollar Decorators".


retroda was selected to be a vendor in the new Vintage & Market Finds section featured alongside other dealers from around the country. Several hundred items are listed for sale each day beginning at 8:00 PST/11:00 EST and while they are available for five days, lots of items get snapped up in the first few hours. We have been very busy preparing to "go live" on the site and have converted the dining room into an impromptu photo studio complete with white backdrop and multiple lights. Next step will be getting ready to ship out all of the items that sell!


I am busy submitting my proposed items to their buying and merchandising team and, once they are approved, should have items up on the site within a couple of weeks.  I'm happy to be partnering with One Kings Lane on this e-commerce endeavor and hope it is the start of something big!

You Can't Go Home Again...

I go to a lot of estate sales and sometimes it's hard to decide if one is going to be worth my time and effort to attend. Where is it located? What kind of items are they advertising? How do the photos of the sale look? There are a lot of variables that affect my decision to go to a specific sale or pass it by.


This past Sunday at the Long Beach Flea Market, the owner of one of the area's estate sale companies stopped by my booth and told me I needed to come to his sale this week as he thought there were a lot of things I would be interested in. Before I spoke with him, I had seen his ad and decided it was going to be a "pass" on this sale. I'm glad I changed my mind!


It turns out that the house the sale was held at was my parents' first house! Driving over to the sale, I knew the house was on the same street I lived on until I was four years old, but when I pulled up to the address I knew it was our old house! I don't think I have any actual memories from living there, but I recognized a few things from old family photos - the banquette in the kitchen, the patio where I played with my sister, the stoop where my grandma sat, my mom in the front yard by the succulent plants, and my dad in the backyard showing off his deep-sea fishing catch. While I was positive it was the same house, I was able to confirm it with the son of the home's owner as he was at the home during the sale. He told me it was his mother's home and she is the one who purchased it from my parents many years ago. As the song goes, it's a small world after all...


I did end up purchasing some furniture and other things from the sale but since they are not my family's they will not be hard for me to sell. However, I did recently receive some furniture from my uncle's estate that my parents had given to him when they furnished their new home - living room tables that came from the house I visited today. They may not be "heirlooms" but they do have some sentimental value for me. At least I can validate their mid-century authenticity!


Who says "you can't go home again"?  Today, I did!

Dark Shadows

My wife and I are big Tim Burton fans and were really looking forward to seeing his latest film, Dark Shadows. While the movie is entertaining and the special effects are pretty amazing, it left us wanting more.  Even Johnny Depp's performance felt a little reserved compared to his other over-the-top characters. Maybe the subject matter is too grim, but we wanted more fun out of the movie.


Since most of the story occurs in 1972, there are fun retro references - bright Samsonite luggage, cool cars, vintage board games, and owl macrame. There's also a fun bit with The Carpenter's on TV singing "Top Of The World". We wanted more vintage product nostalgia and more music!


Fun? Yes. Entertaining? Yes. Worth going to? You decide. Based on our expectations going in, maybe the movie we really wanted to see was Light Shadows...

"HOARDERS" Show Filming At My House!

Just Kidding!  I think...  No, really we're just getting ready for our semi-annual yard sale.  This is the biggest one yet - the photo above doesn't even show six more tables around the side yard or what's on the patio or driveway!  retroda is teaming up with Sweet Treasures Home and another ex-vintage dealer to hold a mother lode of a yard sale.  It looks like we will get nice weather for the next couple of days - wish us luck!