We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eleanor Brooks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eleanor below.

Eleanor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

When people think of vintage and antique shops they generally think of a booth in an antique mall or, if online, in a marketplace environment like Etsy or Ebay. But what if a vintage and antique shop could more closely resemble what is considered mainstream retail? After spending 20 years working in corporate retail, I felt positioned to take some of what I had learned and apply it to a vintage business for a whole new shopping experience. But this isn’t retail as usual.

Items are unique; most often one of a kind in the sense that there is literally only one. Merchandise as a whole tends to move quickly, but because I am dealing in vintage and antiques there is minimal liquidating and clearance. Some items are simply waiting on their person to find them and that can take time. As a business owner I need to be prepared to sit on inventory longer than someone would in a regular retail shop. Restocking the same items is mostly impossible (but has occasionally happened!) so I constantly have fresh merchandise filtering in. It is also one of the most sustainable and eco friendly forms of retail in my opinion. It is literally a form of recycling. By encouraging the reuse of already manufactured products, we cut down on the need for new production. By showing how easily these items can work into a modern day household through strong marketing and imagery, the idea of living with and utilizing vintage becomes very appealing to a whole new generation.

Eleanor, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The roots of Feast Vintage truly began when I was a young girl riding my bicycle to garage sales on Saturday mornings. I discovered thrift stores my freshman year in high school and quickly became a die hard thrifter for everything from clothing & jewelry to furniture and household goods. I began a career in retail management right out of high school all while dreaming of someday owning a store of my own. I always thought that would be apparel retail and in 2011 I opened a small online vintage clothing shop. I realized within a year that I didn’t really love selling clothing, I much preferred selling vintage housewares and decor. After mulling it over for a while, I took the plunge and started selling vintage housewares & decor on Etsy in 2013. About a year into that journey, I realized that the items I enjoyed selling the most (and had the hardest time parting with) all revolved around gathering people at the table. Playing hostess has always been in my blood and as I began to hone down my merchandise to focus on all things dining & entertaining, I realized how deeply the memories we make around the table impact people for the rest of their lives. It goes well beyond the food ~ every detail of gatherings with loved ones remain with us. I want my shop to inspire people to do just that ~ make memories around the table.
There is nothing quite like receiving an email from a customer telling me how they just got their purchase and it brought back a flood of memories and emotions about someone who was very dear to them. Finding these pieces that will mean so much to someone, somewhere is a big part of my why. It is not always about reliving the past either. Sometimes people are simply looking to add style and character to their homes and their gatherings and seeing how they do this with my finds is so encouraging.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

About six years ago I began including handwritten thank you notes in each outgoing order. I write each one myself and always mention what I loved about the item they purchased and if there is an interesting little story around it I will add that too. The hand written notes remind the customer that there is a human behind this shop who is truly grateful for their business. In addition, every Sunday I send my email subscribers a Postcard from Tennessee. It is a short email just recapping my week living on my farm and things in relation to Feast Vintage. Sometimes I write about things that are weighing on my mind and generally I find that those emails resonate the most with my subscribers. I often get emails back thanking me or sharing how my note affected them in one way or another. I have even received emails telling me how they look forward to grabbing a cup of coffee and taking a minute out to read them each week. It has been a great way to connect with my customers.
In November I partnered with a friend of mine and we created A Quiet Place to Land on the website. It is essentially a blog but something that is away from the noise of social media. I think some people are looking to escape what social media has become but it is hard to break the habit without a destination to go to. We are looking to create a space to fulfill that need. Hopefully in 2025 we can offer new content on a daily basis.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I started my business on Etsy in 2013 and began to migrate away in 2022. Etsy was a great choice as I began my journey selling vintage online but as my business grew and my ideas and thoughts with it, it was no longer the platform suited to my needs. I opened a Shopify store in February of 2022 and added all new merchandise to the Shopify site while the Etsy store sold down. I did this for the entire 2022 calendar year. On December 31, 2022 I closed the Etsy shop for good.
Etsy was great for someone starting out selling online as the site is easy to navigate and Etsy handles things like sales tax collection etc. Over a 10 year period, I saw Etsy change drastically in how they operated and it no longer aligned with my vision or my values. They started offering incentive programs to run your business in a good, professional manner and I found that so childish. If you are opening a business in the first place don’t you want to run it to the very best of your ability? The way they collected fees was not as straightforward and often times I found myself surprised at what was sold vs what my payouts ended up being. That is not a good feeling.
Establishing a brand through visual imagery and marketing is basically impossible on Etsy. It is no different than Ebay in that sense. Visual imagery and marketing is my love language and Shopify affords me the opportunity to share my brand’s store in a powerful way. Shopify also collects a yearly fee for having your shop and the only ongoing fee is credit card processing and the cost of buying shipping labels. But even that is done is such a clear way ~ Shopify bills you monthly for all of the shipping labels you purchased in the prior 30 days.
Creating a website on Shopify was not as simple as Etsy if you are a tech novice but not impossible either! I do not consider myself tech savvy at all and yet created my website entirely by myself. I am very happy with my move away from a selling platform to what is essentially being on my own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.feastvintage.com
• Instagram: @feastvintage
• Facebook: @feastvintage
• Youtube: @feastvintage
• Other: Pinterest @feastvintage