Vintage shops selling antiques and memories on Long Island
Thea Morales fashioned her Rosie's Vintage store with homeyness and authenticity in mind. Credit: Steve Pfost
Thea Morales, 40, has vintage in her blood. Her mother bought and sold antiques, and an aunt on her father’s side had an antique store in Iowa. But she didn’t pursue her passion until 2000, when she met her husband, Norman, while attending art school in Manhattan. “I’ve always been an old soul,” she says. “But I never had a chance to figure out what I liked. Then, listening to Norman talk about things he’d collected, and showing me things he liked, something woke up in me.”
Her store, Rosie’s Vintage in Huntington, which officially opened in October 2016, is named after her alter ego, Rosie, and is the result of that awakening. It features finds from the 1940s through the 1960s, which is her favorite era. “It seems like the midcentury has a pull on me,” she says. “I love the movies, the dresses, the actors and actresses. I love seeing the furniture in the rooms.”
Morales says she wanted to make sure her store had the same pull on her customers. To that end, she’s filled it with home decor, clothing, household goods and plenty of curiosities from that time. “We want to evoke a flashback,” she says. If the store looks more like a home than a retail operation, that’s intentional. “It feels like you’re walking into a house,” she adds.
That’s because it used to be a house. The store is located in baby blue Cape-style building with white trim that was originally built as a two-room farmhouse in the 1830s. For more than 100 years, the property was strictly residential and later became zoned for commercial use and expanded into its current size. Today, the two-story, four-room space is dedicated entirely to Morales’s store, though it still retains its domiciliary provenance. “That’s the feeling I wanted,” she says. “I want it to be a nostalgic museum where you can buy stuff.”
For Morales, vintage is all about the stories each item has to tell. That’s why she’s so adamant about people having the real thing. “Buy original,” she says. “Several mass market stores are jumping on the vintage and salvage bandwagon, but why buy a reproduction when you can buy the real thing? And by buying vintage or antique, you make a difference by keeping a tiny piece of history going and lessening the size of the world’s landfills.”
Even though almost everything in her shop is for sale, there are a few things she can’t bear to part with. One is a favorite table in the shop’s main room. “It’s a very rough-looking garden table, and it’s sturdy, and it just fits the look of our store. I don’t think I could sell it,” says Morales, who has gotten offers.
She says she hopes that her customers will walk out of her store loving what they’ve bought as much as she loves the things she’s collected. “Buying vintage is all about passion,” she says. “You see something and you say, ‘I really need that.’ And you know you’re not going to find it in another store.”
Other vintage shops to try
Twin Hearts Vintage
234 Merrick Rd., Rockville Centre, 516-442-7800, twinheartsvintage.com Opened by twin sisters Jacqueline and Kristina Lepre in 2011, this store carries 19th- and mid-20th century furniture, lighting, glassware and decor. The pair originally began buying and selling dolls and toys, but soon expanded. “Saving and restoring these items is very important to us,” says Kristina. “If we were to have a theme, I think ‘preservation’ would be it.”
In the Attic Too
Laurel location: 1095 Franklinville Rd., Laurel; Red Barn location: behind 1565 Main Rd., Jamesport, 631-605-9439, facebook.com/inthe.attictoo
Dan and Heather McAllister opened their shop in Laurel in 2009, when Dan’s salvaged birdhouse-building hobby outgrew their garage. The custom furniture and salvage shop also expanded to include the Red Barn, opened in 2015, and their rustic beach-meets-barn inventory is constantly changing. “You can always find one of us working away on a project, whether it be painting pieces for the store or for customers, or building down at the barn,” says Heather.
Deep End of the Sandbox
650 Portion Rd., Ronkonkoma, 631-676-3130, deependofthesandbox.com
Lauren Bochicchio, who opened this store with her husband, Victor, in 2013, describes the shop as a nostalgic casual funk pop culture cave. The product mix ranges from 1970s rock tour posters and original, local art to vintage video games, collectibles and decor. “It’s about recycling with purpose and whimsy,” says Lauren. “It’s about being surrounded by things that make you happy.”
Wit & Whim
6 Carlton Ave., Port Washington, 516-944-9200, wit-and-whim.com
Family therapist Laurie Scheinman opened her shop in 2012, and stocks an unusual combination of modern, vintage, fair trade and Americana furniture, decor, art and accessories. The philanthropic shop donates 100 percent of its profits to charity, and, she says, “There is a story behind every item in the shop.”
Funk & Swagger
220 E. Main St., Huntington, 212-875-0748, funkandswagger.com
For more than 30 years, owner Michael Hubert ran an antique shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. When he relocated to Huntington in 2015, he curated blend of eras and styles that range from circa-1860s French furniture to midcentury lights. “I purchase items that I would want in my own home,” says Hubert. “My favorite item to shop for is one I wind up really wanting to keep, but instead eventually sell to someone equally enthusiastic about owning it.”
Antique Attics
2789 Middle Country Rd., Lake Grove, 631-588-0005, antiqueattics.com
Sabbath Troisi and Justina Beck re-christened their former Finders Keepers space in September 2016. The multi-dealer location has a little something for almost everyone, from antique and vintage decor to collectibles, military pieces and video games. Justina prides herself on offering “unusual and fun decor.”
South Shore Vintage
72 N. Ocean Ave., Patchogue, 631-475-1940, southshorevintage.com
Owner Elizabeth Plotz has a background in interior design, so her store, open since November 2016, feels more like someone’s cool house than a store. “I’ve arranged everything so that shoppers can envision the items in their own homes,” she says. Her space, which is in an old house, carries vintage furniture, decor, and collectibles, and features a mix of styles and era, including midcentury modern, bohemian, Hollywood Regency, industrial and rustic.
WHAT Rosie’s Vintage
WHERE | WHEN Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days at 101 Woodbury Rd., Huntington
INFO 631-549-9100, facebook.com/rosiesvintagestore
