Antique
World
Bonnie Boerema
©
Copyright 2018 by Bonnie Boerema
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My
dad started dabbling in antiques in the 70’s, buying living
room and
bedroom
pieces that were beautiful. When he died in 1981, they were left
to
my mom.
I’ve
liked arts and crafts since the 60’s, being a creative woman,
who
loves
to make things. In 2003, after my mom died, I got the antique bug
myself.
I loved going to all the antique stores in Branson and Ozark,
Missouri.
It’s a very popular business in that area. I loved browsing in
them,
sorting out the quality from the junk. That same year I started
making
jewelry, mostly bracelets. I bought my beads and supplies at
bead
shops and Hobby Lobby. The Swarovski crystal stones were my
favorites,
in pinks and amethyst, also casual beads, and many turquoise.
I
started displaying them in my booth. They were a popular item with
women,
and raised up my sales substantially.
At
Yesteryear Antique Mall, I filled out their contract to rent a booth
for
one year. It was a very large, two story store in Ozark, Missouri.
I
started shopping and planning for what I’d put in my own booth.
The
first
month I made some money over my rent money, but still needed to
expand
all the pieces I put in my booth. I decided to look for furniture
pieces,
I started hitting many garage sales in Springfield, were I lived
every
weekend.
Across
the West By-Pass Highway from my addition was an upscale
subdivision,
Orchard Crest, with very nice homes. They were having
many
garage sales every weekend. Among my finds were wicker
nightstands,
dressers, also a retro 50’s high table and chairs. Each piece
sold
in my booth within two days.
This
wasn’t just a hobby, but my pleasure. I put lots of work and
gas
money
into doing it. I was checking daily my sales on the Yesteryear
website,
and this spurred me on. I relished adding new pieces to my
booth,
and seeing how fast they sold. You learn in a hurry what sells and
what
doesn’t sell. Those items you want in there, to make a profit.
I
kept my booth in Yesteryear four years, then decided to move it to
Antique
Emporium in Ozark, behind Lambert’s Restaurant, very popular
and
known nationwide for Bar-b-Que and throwing their rolls. It did a
huge
business, and people had to wait one hour to get seated. The
location
was excellent. For all of my hard work, I wasn’t thrilled with
my
sales at Yesteryear. In 2007, I moved it all to the Antique Emporium.
I
hit it off immediately with Norman, the owner. He was very nice and
accomodating,
and liked him right off. He did a huge business, and the
place
was always very, very busy. Right away I started noticing that my
profits
from sales had gone up substantially from what I made at
Yesteryear.
It was more exciting from Spring through the holidays
because
of all the Branson tourists traveling through the area, and
enjoying
themselves. Especially in July and October of 2007, my sales
went
through the roof.
After
my husband, Kenny and I married in 2008, he helped me move my
booth
to Willough Springs, Missouri. It was ten miles from Birch Tree,
where
we were living. Because of the area, there wasn’t nearly as
much
antique
business going on in this area. Mostly the customers were coming
off
Highway 60, and just browsing. I held my own in sales there, and was
still
enjoying doing it. But when we bought a home, and moved to West
Plains,
Missouri in 2012, I had to move my booth again to Heartland Mall
in
West Plains.
I
liked it there much more than the other place, and the owner, Perry.
When
we made plans to move to Southwest Florida in the summer of
2014,
I started looking for someone to buy my booth. In August 2014,
we
sold my booth to two other dealers we knew. They bought my booth
and
everything in it. We were moving to Florida in September. That was
perfect
timing, and worked out nice for us. That put an end to my antique
career
of the last eleven years.
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Bonnie
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