‘Buying back their childhood’: Younger people are getting into antiques, giving new life to vintage wares

Amy and Jason Diesel of McHenry are in their 30s and among a growing number of “younger” folks who routinely buy antiques, those in the business say.

The married couple shop for antiques at Q’tiques Vintage and Antique Mall in McHenry every other week in search of items such as vintage dolls for their 4-year-old daughter Everleigh.

Everleigh “likes to rescue the vintage Barbies at the store. She likes to give them a second life,” Amy Diesel said.

The family also hunts for vintage cameras for Jason Diesel and items that Amy Diesel is nostalgic about from her childhood, such as a 1970s cookie jar identical to one her grandmother had in her kitchen.

Alyssa Schroeder, 24, regularly shops at Q’tiques and other vintage and resale shops in the northwest suburbs.

“Most of the stuff in my room and a lot of my clothes are secondhand,” said Schroeder, of Des Plaines. “Growing up, my family introduced me to a lot of older things, TV series and movies. Nowadays, that stuff isn’t in production anymore, so I have to look around at vintage stores.”

She said she really likes anything from the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s including classic rock and ‘80s pop, sparking her vintage record collection. She also shops around for old snow globes no longer in production and anything Betty Boop, as well as old portraits, paintings and furniture.

“Most of the furniture in my room has been thrifted,” she said. Older furniture “is lower in price and always higher quality. Since the stuff is not falling apart because it is so well made, I don’t have to buy new stuff every few years. The old stuff is reliable.”

Kathy Quatraro, owner of Q’tiques and an Elk Grove Village resident, said she is seeing more buyers and sellers who are thirties and younger.

“They are learning it is better quality and a better deal,” she said. “They are getting smart.”

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She has younger buyers who, rather than go to a furniture company and buy new, instead purchase vintage pieces and, if needed, fix them up. She also has younger sellers in her shop. There are 20- to 40-year-olds renting booths that require they go out and find the items to sell. One seller is out every day buying items to sell in her booth. Another young woman, a buyer, purchases from the antique store then sells the items on TikTok.

Younger buyers and sellers today are smart.

“They know what they are doing. They are investigating,” Quatraro said.

“People assume younger sellers don’t know quality and they do, and they are the ones spending more money in the store,” Quatraro said. “They are the ones who are going to come in and spend more than most retirees who don’t buy much because they don’t need it.”

Dena Napoli, 50, of Huntley, sells at Q’tiques and online, a business she started up during the pandemic when CDM Promotions, her Gilberts-based marketing business, was temporarily shut down. She also has noticed younger vintage and antique buyers and sellers. Quatraro said she considers Napoli young in the vintage world as well.

“Younger people are totally buying vintage, retro [items],” Napoli said. “The younger generation has really dove into it.”

The look many younger people are seeking in clothing and furniture is from the 1970s. Popular décor today includes owls, darker walnut wood furniture and vintage designer glassware and vases.

“The whole fact of the matter is they can’t afford new furniture. No one can,” Napoli said. “These kids are taking the furniture either repurposing it, painting it, re-staining it. Most people are doing it these days. It’s a great time to do it. In the antique world, furniture sales are really flat. It’s not pricey, so you can get good old furniture for cheap. … You could really pick up a nice piece that 20 years ago would [cost] $3,000, you could get [today] for $300.”

She has shoppers who come to her “multiple times” to furnish entire homes with secondhand items or antiques. They do it for the deal as well as a desire to give their homes a unique style, Napoli said.

She added that younger buyers and sellers also are purchasing items from thrift stores, antique malls or online sites and then flipping their trove on sites geared toward “younger buyers” such as Depop, Poshmark and Kidizen. Younger sellers are not using eBay because that is “for old people now,” she said.

Other popular goods attracting the younger crowd include vintage T-shirts, clothes from the 1970s made with polyester, and anything from the 1990s and Y2K, especially the clothing from those decades. Napoli said she bought a Ralph Lauren polo with tags on it for $1 and sold it within 24 hours for $35.

Napoli said one antique association said the Victorian age is making a big comeback, along with dolls and flowers inspired by the Regency era-set Netflix series “Bridgerton.” Costume jewelry, such as big rhinestone items and brooches, are also really hot now. Signed designer jewelry from 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, as well as the bright colors from the 1980s, are very popular with the younger buyers, she said.

“I just think people are buying what they like. They are buying back their childhood,” Napoli said. “It’s good because it is all about the whole ‘recycle, up-cycle.’ It is all about taking something that is used, like an end table, and recycling it to use in my house. I’m going to paint it, stain it, sand it and put a new something on it. ‘Up-cycle’ is the buzz word.”

Michele Gallagher, a seller at Crystal Lake Antique Mall, said she sees many teenagers and buyers in their 20s who come in looking for jewelry. She also notices that demographic likes to buy old advertisements to hang up in their bedrooms, including ads selling cars and makeup. She also sees buyers in their 20s and 30s seeking furniture.

Steve Hensley, 31, of McHenry, who helps his mother at Q’tiques, said he sees a lot of high school-aged kids shopping for gems, crystals, stickers and vintage candy. Like the others sellers, Hensley also sees younger buyers furnishing their homes with antiques.

“We are cheaper than a furniture store and the older furniture is built to last,” Hensley said. “It is not going to fall apart like pressed-board furniture. ... Aged antiques are very sturdy and built to last; that is why they are still around. You are giving something old a new life and a new purpose – and people like the stories that go with it.”