I recently decided to move my online store to Etsy for a couple of reasons.

First of all it is a collection of similar shops allowing a prospective customer to search the entire site and find multiple items to choose from. While this may sound counter intuitive because you can be judged side by side with your competition, more people will actually find your items. If you have quality merchandise at a fair price point you will get your fair share of sales. It is similar to having an antique store among a cluster of other antique stores. You end up with much more traffic than if you were miles and miles away from any other similar stores because people will gravitate to destinations that they can spend 4-6 hours at vs a one stop shop. In short it’s good for the customer as well as the quality seller.

Secondly – Etsy has very carefully cultivated and maintained a reputation of being an outlet for either articles made by hand or vintage items. High volume, off-shore sellers need not apply. The buyer does not have to wade through search results that show all 30 instances of an item that someone listed on a site like ebay or with a description that includes “vintage like”. Etsy actually polices this kind of behaviour and will remove the seller if they persist. Etsy is still very much a community.

Last of all – Maintaining the e-commerce software side of the website has become as much work as finding and listing vintage items and not near as much fun. Etsy does all that behind the scenes leaving me more time to do what I’m passionate about – find and present vintage fashion items that appeal to me.

The Etsy store can be found here. If there was something you saw at the online store before Etsy and you don’t see it now, drop me a line. The odds are it just hasn’t been listed yet and I’ll get it set up just for you.

I’ve set up a coupon code that readers of my blog and customers of the VintageJoAnn.com store can use to take 10% of any purchase from the Etsy store. Just type in VJStore in the coupon code block during checkout.

Julie and I wore vintage outfits of course!  Julie looked adorable in her 50′s red and white cotton dress, red flower in her hair and vintage red bracelet and earrings. I wore a black and white polka dot strapless cotton dress with a red cardigan. I also wore a vintage bracelet. I tried to make my makeup as authentic as possible. The food was various hot sandwiches and fries and there was an open bar.  It felt so good to dress up and go out, we need to do more of that!

The crowd was hoppin’ and the dance floor packed. Very hard for me to dance since my back makes walking difficult but Rick and I did slow dance which made me all giggley. Swoon. The guy has still got it! Rick wore a black and red bowling shirt I got him, Marv  wore a cool Hawaiian shirt, Scott was cute in his bow tie and argyle. Unfortunetly my pic of Andrea and Brooks didn’t turn out!S

After the Party

For the first time in way too long the vintage spouse and I went out for a New Years eve party – and party we did!!

We went to Kerry’s Green which used to be the old Red Lion country club. Rick made reservations and we joined our friends Scott and Sandi plus his work colleague Mark and his wife Cindy.

Dinner was roast beef, chicken with crab sauce, various veg, baked potatoes. There was a chocolate fountain with various things to dip plus a nacho cheese fountain. Later in the evening ribs, shrimp, wings, cheese bologna and ham were put out.  Yummy  Open bar!!

First there was a comedian who was hilarious and then we rocked the night away to the music of the live band. Mostly classic rock. The guitarist just wailed on that thing and Rick went to high school with the drummer.  Great band, great music.

Now for the important stuff- what did I wear??  Dress code was dressy casual but I always do my own thing anyway. I finally decided on a leopard print wrap dress with encouragement from Rick. I wore this with dark brown tights, long gold and brown beaded earings and several large cocktail rings.  I wore brown suede, open toed flats instead of heels as my back hurt and I had wrenched my foot earlier in the day.  My outfit was topped of with a darling vintage 50s, salmon pink wool swing coat, leopard gloves and a mink poodle pin on my coat lapel.

Rick was his usual dapper self in navy sports coat, tan pants and dress shirt.  For a purse I took a small vintage tooled leather clutch.

We had great time and I can’t wait until Jan. 29th because Kerrys is having a 50′s dance party and dinner!!!!! More details on this soon and yes, I will be going vintage, complete with hat!

I don’t know a lot about cars but I love the way cars from the 50′s look like!  We walked around and admired all the love and devotion the owners had put into their cars.

I shopped at the venders booths, purchasing a red wicker purse and drooling over a red cashmere coat with leopard lining.  I skipped the coat since I have about 10 great vintage coats now and don’t want to part with any.  Several are red and leopard!   I’ll have to take pictures for another post.  Somehow the fact that I have bizillions of vintage purses did not deter me in that purchase!    Gee- I didn’t have a red WICKER purse!  Rationalization-it’s a beautiful thing.   Rick never said a thing- too busy taking pics of gorgeous ladies  in vintage attire!

Everyone was very nice and approachable, friendly crowd, put up with me scurrying around asking questions.  We wan

t to return next year.  Check out the gorgeous ladies of all ages and shapes in the pin-up contest- I was enthralled withe the clothing of course.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7337396&fbid=10150089468288098&id=65906328097

Click on the picture! Then Tag yourself.

Thank you, Julie, Becky, Ken, and the vintage spouse, Rick, you were all so much help. Especially since i couldn’t sleep the night before and was in a lot of pain.  So many vintage goodies left the shop! Sales were fabulous. It gives me a nice nest egg to advertise the new internet shop and buy new inventory.

 I’m up to my fanny in chaos, breaking down the store and inventoring what’s left.  I started taking pictures again today which will be added to the site tomorrow of new items for sale.   I will be adding weekly.

I did cry a little when it was all over, this was my dream and baby, but I just can’t handle the hours any more with the scoliosis pain.

Oh—- I am getting a new puppy!!!!!!!!!  In about 4 weeks she will be able to leave her mama. A darling little girl poodle.  Ziggy loves other dogs and I can’t wait.   I’m going to be posting pictures soon.    Love to all!  JoAnn

I’m especially excited about (go ahead, try to guess…) the PIN UP CONTEST. Vintage JoAnn has been used to supply many an outfit for pin up style photography. Check out some of the photos in our Models section.

I’ve got to admit that I am not a motorhead and at first wondered about the organization’s name: Karbkings. It took me awhile to realize they were referring to carburetors and not those bad ingredients in all the food you love. The kind of food you’ll be able to enjoy while watching the PIN UP CONTEST for example.

For more information: Mobtown Greaseball Homepage
To request more info via email: MobtownGreaseball@gmail.com

8/22/10 Update – More info on the Pinup Contest here!

C’ya there!!

Vintage JoAnn is NOT going out of business!!! We have been doing well and I’d like to thank all the supportive friends and loyal customers I’ve met!

Now that the internet store is up and running on VintageJoAnn.com that will be the primary outlet after the physical store closes.  My health issues have gotten to the point where this is the only way I can remain in this business that I love.   Actually the amount of work will be about the same but I will be able to work when I feel able, even during the night if I can’t sleep and rest when I’m flared up in a pain cycle.

My goal is that the internet store becomes just like the old store with hundreds of items at great prices.  I will be adding things weekly so the selections will be growing steadily.

I’m planning on expanding plus sizes in the future and also vintage and antique children’s clothing.

If you live locally you can still call and come over to try something on that you saw on the site.   Shipping is included in the price in the U.S.  Please email if you live out of the U.S.

I will still be living at the same address & will still be available for buying vintage items, it’s just that you will need to call first as I will no longer have set hours.   Even the big VJ sign will remain out front and I remain a member of the Red Lion Area Business Association. The sign will have my website and phone# instead of hours.

If you have any questions feel wecome to comment or email.  Best to all, JoAnn.

I will be featuring vintage woman’s and men’s fashion from all eras and also I am bringing back more vintage childrens’ fashion.    I am also going to be buying the largest range of sizing I can find, including plus sizes.  I really hope all you vintage loving friends will love it!!!!

Remember all the whining and moaning I did during the blizzards last winter???

It’s coming back to haunt me!!!!!   Tropical heat wave at Vintage JoAnn.  I scurry around in the am turning on fans and a few window air units before opening.  It makes it a lot cooler then outside but it’s still HOT to a menepausal momma like me.

Shop exploding with goodies like usual and I’m now working on adding a new dimension to VJ>

Soon you will be able to browse a shopping area on the website and purchase the same great items in the store.  I am busy taking pictures and listing things when I have time.   The internet store should be available to customers by Aug.  before the great Red Lion Street Fair and Vintage JoAnn Sale!!!!

On a sadder note the outdoor dance has been shelved for the time being.