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

Alex, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I was raised by my antique-collecting grandparents. Growing up, we had around 93 antique clocks in our house, antique prints on all the walls, and other eclectic furniture pieces. I began to develop a curiosity about everything from the past, naturally. I was already super into shopping and clothing and trends, and my grandparents would comment about how whatever I was wearing had already been in style in the past. They’d tell me about trends from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and so on. We’d also watch older movies and I started noticing clothing of each era and making mental notes on styles. We also lived in a smaller town, with no shopping mall and a limited amount of clothing stores. Around high school (when I could drive and had a little bit of my own money,) is when I started thrifting and seeing all kinds of old clothing labels. I’d buy a piece, take it home to my grandparents and ask them about it. They were my resource for pretty much all of my clothing research, actually.
I started buying pieces that didn’t even fit me, but they were so good I couldn’t just let them sit in the thrift store. Where I grew up, there weren’t a ton of people interested in old clothes, so if I didn’t scoop them up they’d surely be bound for a landfill.
I ended up with a pretty big collection, and decided to try to sell online.
My online selling evolved into wanting to really pursue this as a full-time job, so I quit my government job and started setting up pop up shops. I did that pretty much every weekend, in and out of Arkansas, for two years before I found my first brick-and-mortar shop. At the time, there wasn’t a huge vintage seller scene in Little Rock, so I think that helped me stand out. I also took (and still do) a very hands-on approach with my customers. I love to help people figure out how vintage fits their modern bodies, and suggest pieces based on their style and what I think might work on them. I think that by being enthusiastic about helping people try on this type of clothing was crucial, because vintage clothing is often put into a box of being for very thin women. I love helping people realize that not all of it is that way, and I try to have something in every size for that reason.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I sell curated and sometimes reworked vintage clothing. I carry a stock of men’s and women’s clothing and accessories (I have yet to branch out to kids’ clothing,) so there’s definitely something for everyone here. My collection is definitely a curation of my taste– some of it’s pretty wild but there are some basics in the mix, too. My goal is to provide sustainably sourced unique vintage clothing that can be easily blended with a modern wardrobe to add some personal style and flare.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

So, I opened my brick-and-mortar shop in October of 2019. When March 2020 came around and everything shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I thought I was going to lose my new shop. I got really lucky in that I had no employees (so I didn’t have to worry about paying anyone else or letting anyone go,) and my landlords worked with me on rent for the months that I was not opened. I shifted gears and started using my online platform more and got creative with ways to sell items online to make it by until I could take advantage of help offered by the government. Navigating how to safely reopen my shop was a whole other dilemma, and things were slow for a little over a year. Hustling on the internet was the name of the game, basically. It was a tough couple of years, but I’m still here!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn was that you have to say yes to everything! I worked in the service industry off and on for a long time before I opened my shop, and the notion that the customer is always right and the answer is always “yes” was kind of drilled into my head. I have since learned that I can set boundaries for how I am willing to accommodate my customers while maintaining my own sanity so that I don’t get burned out. Through operating this way, I’ve also learned that you really can’t please everyone, and that’s ok!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cryingweasel.com
• Instagram: @cryingweaselvintage
• Facebook: facebook.com/cryingweaselvintage
• Other: I also have an Etsy page: cryingweaselvintage.etsy.com

Image Credits
Alex Flanders