Southern Vintage Co. – Bartlett

Southern Vintage Co. – Bartlett Makes Dreams Come True

The first time that a customer visits Southern Vintage Co.– Bartlett, there’s a look…usually a smile…always an expression of surprise that this delightful, imaginative, customer friendly, full of outstanding vintage, upcycled, and antiques mall “that is in an around the corner and over the hill” shopping center has not faded into strip mall oblivion. Then they’re greeted by ladies named Mindy, Judy, or Nova, and that customer knows that this place is special…really…there’s a “for real” something that makes a person want to stay a little longer. There’s a voice on the phone, “Yes, one of our vendors found the shelf to that piece. We’ll hold it for you,” or, “We do have several lamps that would work with your shade. Let’s go find one.” (Yes, seriously, they get up and help the customer!)

Even as a child growing up in Bartlett, Tenn., Mindy Sticht Woodall had a dream of one day owning her own antique store. She collected and antiqued, vintaged and junked. So did her mother, Nova Sticht…and Mindy’s aunts…As fellow junkers and collectors and vintage dream searchers, we all have entertained moments of owning our own place. We’ve imagined how our shops, filled with all of the things that we love, would be staged by vendors who love “all of this” as much as we do. How customers would “shop until they dropped,” discovering all of those story-filled pieces to wear, fill their homes, and give as unique gifts, perhaps lovingly handmade, perhaps delicious, too.

There would be a craft supply room and a classroom to teach customers how to construct delightful crafts in “make and takes” and paint furniture to give it new life. Classes would be affordable and fun. A co-op would give vendors the opportunity to work together to learn and present staging techniques, as well as demonstrate how merchandise from all over Southern Vintage, and all over the decades can fit well within a home, apartment, dorm, or occasion. Prices would be competitive, and merchandise would have quality.

Vendor sales, a store sale, the world would know it! After all, this is THE SOUTH! We love any reason for food and friends! Why not our sales? Each “First Saturday,” there’d be food and sales and class; every “Third Thursday” of the month (March through October), Ladies Night Out would mean food (you bet!), sales, friends, and fun! Tent Sales, three times a year, (combined with our Anniversary, Hwy 70 Yard Sale, and Small Business/Customer Appreciation Saturday) would become legendary.

In the midst of all of her plans, Mindy also knew that it would be important to be a part of the community and “Pay It Forward.” She and her family live in Bartlett, go to school there, attend church there, work there, and now, as her dream became reality, own a small business, Southern Vintage Co.- Bartlett, there. Three years ago, in March, 2010, Southern Vintage Co.- Bartlett had its Grand Opening. There were swag bags and treats and sales and 35 vendors. This past March, 2017, Southern Vintage Co.-Bartlett celebrated its 3rd Anniversary. There were swag bags and cake and punch, a raffle for Friends of Faith, a $500 shopping spree, amazing sales, and over 100 vendors.

Mindy Sticht Woodall, with her intelligent, creative, business mind, and her trust in God, her vendors and friends and family is making her “Junkers’ Dream” come true. At the same time, she’s providing the opportunity for those of us who “love this crazy cool beans business” to work toward our own dreams, too.

Southern Vintage Co.-Bartlett, 4210 Altruria, #122, Bartlett, Tenn., is open Tues.-Sat., 10-6 and Sunday, 1-6. For more information, call (901)832-8292.