Behind the scenes of running a Vintage Shop

I founded and have been running Florence May Vintage for over 6 years now and over time I have learnt so much and put all of that into how I run my business. I thought it might be quite interesting to show some behind the scene of what’s involved in running my vintage shop. 

Sourcing vintage ~

One of the biggest and most time consuming parts of running my shop, is sourcing the vintage clothing and accessories I’m going to sell. I love handpicking special vintage pieces and I go to different sources for this. A lot of it comes down to making contacts with people who used to run vintage shops or maybe people who have inherited an elderly family members clothes. This takes a lot of time and effort to talk to people in my local area and spread the word that I buy vintage.

I also spend hours scouring charity shops, auctions, online sales looking for any vintage gems. Basically I’m a bit of a magpie, always on high alert for vintage anywhere I can find it. 

Researching vintage ~

A lot of my time is also spent researching vintage clothing, whether that’s items I already own or looking into labels and vintage brands to try and find on my travels. Looking into when and where vintage brands started, how they have changed over time, what sort of items they are well known for, all of those sort of things are important but also very interesting to know! 

Cleaning/mending clothing ~ 

Another a really important part of running the shop is making sure the vintage clothing is in good condition and if not trying to clean or mend the pieces to make them the best they can be. 

This can take time and care to do, due to vintage fabrics sometimes need specialised cleaning products or having to look for a specific zip or button to mend the item. 

Measuring clothing ~ 

When it comes to then listing the vintage clothing for sale, I take a lot of time measuring each item so as to give the best idea of sizing for the clothing. I take as many measurements as possible, as a lot of vintage items unfortunately don’t contain dress sizes and if they do, the sizes will now be different in relation to modern clothing. 

Taking photos ~ 

I don’t hire any models for my vintage shop currently, so I model all of the vintage clothing and I also take the photos myself most of the time. This can be a real challenge but also very fun. Coming up with new set-ups, backgrounds and display arrangements to show off the clothing in the best way possible. I also enjoy setting up beautiful close up shots and being able to highlight details of all of the vintage pieces I sell. 

Describing and listing clothing ~ 

Once I have all of my photos and measurements of the vintage clothing, I then spend quite a lot of time describing the pieces whilst listing them in my vintage shop. This can be a long process especially when listing many items at once. I like to add in as much detail as possible for each item so that you can get a real sense of what the item will be like when you come to purchase it. Buying vintage online is obviously so different to how you would buy pieces ‘in real life’ but I try to make it an as easy and fun experience as possible. 

Marketing on social media ~ 

As huge part of what drives sales and people visiting my shop, is the social media side to the business. I absolutely love using social media when it comes to the shop. It’s such a brilliant way to show pieces in a lot more detail than you can on an online shop sometimes. I also love using it to show more behind the scenes of my shop and posting fun and creative videos and photos to show more of my personality and also what the essence of my shop is. 

Sometimes I’m planning out Instagram posts weeks in advance and sometimes I post ideas where and when I have them so it’s always a huge ongoing part of running my shop. 

So there are just a few insights into what goes on behind the scenes in the day to day running of a vintage shop. Hopefully you found it interesting!