From pandemics and wars to the soaring cost of living, today's woes have many hankering for the good old days. Now, a bunch of Wollongong entrepreneurs like Lindsay Mudge and Russell Hall are riding the wave of interest in nostalgia, opening antique, collectables and retro fashion stores across the Illawarra.
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Reviving old wares instead of buying new is en vogue - not only with the young and environmentally conscious, but also older crowds who love a bit of nostalgia.
Vintage, retro and second-hand stores are growing in popularity with an array up and down the South Coast.
While some people can't be bothered with a stitch in time, many will gladly take what's considered rubbish and breathe new life into it.
A common theme between three Wollongong store owners was they mainly do it for the love of it.
RETROSPECTRUM
Dann Fletcher left the corporate life of banking to open a shop - which doesn't make much money - off the Princes Highway in Fairy Meadow.
Retrospectrum (near the ALDI carpark) has a colourful collection of artefacts, furniture and fabrics, specific to the 1960s and 1970s.
After suffering a mental breakdown around 10 years ago, she couldn't bare to return to 9 to 5 work in a stuffy office.
Dann describer her love for finding vintage and styling it in her store as "her art", the place she channels her anxiety and keeps her mental health in check.
"It's not just a shop to make money really, because I'm never going to get rich with this," she laughed. "This is my creative outlet."
Dann only opens on Fridays and Saturdays - or by appointment only - but it's worth the effort to get there. The rest of her week she spends scouring the internet for local and overseas goods, heading to garage sales and the like for goods with groove.
"It's all about saving these pieces and sending them off to new, loving homes," she said.
Dann recalled a time in Sydney where she purposely drove on the wrong side of the road to rescue a starburst, shag-pile Rya rug from being mangled by a council cleanup truck.
"That would have been chewed up by the garbage truck, so I feel pretty good that I saved that," she said.
Dann isn't only passionate about styling her shop, as her own home is decked out in swirly browns and greens like a time warp from 1974.
Her family is very much into, also. Her mother uses vintage fabrics to create beautiful cushions for the shop, while her teenage daughter creates in '70s inspired prints.
"I always refer customers on," Dann said. "If someone's come down [from Sydney] to visit, I suggest to go up the road, or say 'have you been to Dreams and Memories in the Timber Mill' ... I think we all should just stick together and support each other."
There's something very cool about the fact the item you've got has passed through so many people's hands.
- Richard Ainsworth, Dreams and Memories
DREAMS AND MEMORIES
When the Mercury visited Dreams and Memories, tucked inside Bulli's Timber Mill Studios, owner Alison Ainsworth was out but her husband and collaborator Richard was in.
The now-retired engineer admitted it was his partner's passion that inspired the idea to open a second-hand store, but his enthusiasm for making what was old new again was clearly apparent.
"She said her dream was to have a vintage shop, so right, I said 'let's just make it happen'," Richard said.
"I appreciate the fact that something is being brought back to life, or kept in existence, so that it can be used.
"One of my sayings is 'why buy new plastic when you can have vintage wood' ... so I'm keen on restoring things as much as I can so that it can live on."
The couple started by visiting auctions and garage sales to find gems for their original outlet at the Kiama Co-op.
But now many people come to their outlet at Bulli with goods from relatives passed on to sell, or following a spring clean-up of their home.
Their tin shed is filled with tiny ornaments, records and upcycled products, postcards, toys, vintage and retro toys plus other one-of-a-kind knick-knacks.
"I often think about 'wow, I wonder who's held these tools' and 'who's chiselled with that old chisel because I love old tools," Richard explained, as he pointed to a cabinet containing gadgets of yesteryear.
He then pulled out a wooden box to show me, something he'd fixed the hinges on, and explained it was a hand-made ink well from a cattle property.
The unique piece was suspected to be an unwanted "family heirloom" that ended up in a garage sale - but what is one person's trash is another's treasure.
"People who like vintage stuff realise there's something very cool about the fact the item you've got has passed through so many people's hands," he said.
"[Our customers are] people who are switched onto that idea of you could buy something brand new in a department store ... but in a way it doesn't have much soul."
WOMBAT
Wombat has been an institution in the northern Illawarra for a long time, often affectionately referred to as the "junk store in Thirroul".
After working there part-time for several years, Russell Hall took the reins after the previous owner moved interstate.
He and Lindsay Mudge now continue Wombat's legacy in reviving old furniture and vintage wares - pieces often saved from the side of the road or brought in from people selling their homes.
"We know a few real estate agents who give out our card, especially to people who have been in their house for like 40 or 50 years and then they've got to downsize," Russell said, noting they are particular with what they will and won't take.
"It sort of just keeps coming to us. The hard part isn't getting the stuff, it's hard selling it."
He said they have a lot of regular costumers, or "collectors", and random people who may be visiting the area.
"On the weekends, we get a lot of people driving down from Sydney," he said.
"Lately through the school holidays we've had a lot of kids through the shop - they always enjoy it seeing things that they've never seen before."
Russell and Lindsay have discovered some hidden gems over the years like $2000 in a discarded vase and an artwork they bought which turned out to be by a famous Japanese artist (and worth a good penny).
The reason Russell does it is because cheap items won't last, he said, while what's old may just need a bit of TLC to revive it for another round.
"What's the point of buying new when there is something perfectly good already out there, and often the old stuff is better."
OTHER STORES TO SPEND YOUR CASH
- Op-Shops - Google search your local as every suburb has potential for hidden gems
- Mountain Vintage Boutique, Lawrence Hargrave Drive Coledale
- Now and Then Collectables, Lawrence Hargrave Drive Thirroul
- Bee Vintage, Lawrence Hargrave Drive Thirroul
- Fairy Meadow Antique Centre, Princes Highway Fairy Meadow
- The Classy Closet, Church Street in Wollongong
- Retro Groove, Globe Lane Wollongong
- The Second Hand Clothing Shop, George Street Warilla
- Corner D'or, Belinda Street Gerringong
- Hustle and Vixen, Terralong Street Kiama
- Terrace Collectables, Collins Street Kiama
- Nerilee Antiques, Allowrie Street Jamberoo
- Spaghetti Junction in Nowra. 82 Junction Street Nowra
If you know any more cool second-hands, write them in the COMMENTS below!
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