Kavanagh Vintage
Photographed by: Isabelle Fexa
There’s a lot of excitement these days about reclaimed objects and all
things vintage, but what’s happened to antique stores in the midst of
all this? Kavanagh Vintage
is a wonderfully curated shop in Montreal’s west end (NDG) inspired by
the vintage markets in Camden Town. Beau Kavanagh and partner Sarah
journey high and low hunting for memorable pieces - whether vintage
jewelry is your thing or a Hughes & Owen drafting table, every inch
of this place is worth the visit.
1. Are people buying antiques to value them as antiques, or to appropriate the old and recycle it into something new?
There’s definitely a trend towards recycling and reclaiming objects. It’s become a badge of honour for many people to reclaim something they’ve found. It goes along with the mindset many of making do without breaking the bank and seeing who can be the craftiest creating or reinventing something.
We live in a very consumer driven market where the message is constantly “buy, buy, buy!”: if it’s broken, just go out and replace it. In recent years, we’ve seen a backlash against stores like Ikea. People are tired of buying stuff that falls apart. There’s certainly the perception that if furniture from the 1950s has lasted this long, it tends to last. We have stuff that’s 200 years old in here, still usable and functional.
There’s room for nostalgia too: a lot of people want what they had when they were growing up. They come in to Kavanagh and they see a set of teak chairs that was in their parents or their grandparents house growing up.
2. How do people integrate the old with the new?
People now tend towards accent pieces. Just as with wardrobes, when you have a lovely broach accenting a blazer, in decorating we see a lovingly chosen piece as the accent for a room. The shift towards accent pieces marks a decisive change in buying habits and is the reason why many stores along Notre-Dame are now going under. [Beau’s] father, Leo Kavanagh, was a dealer for over 30 years. When business was booming people were decorating their entire house to look like the 1800s or another given period. ‘Modern’ and mid-century modern remain in that vein: enthusiasts will usually deck out their entire house.
For the most part though, tastes in antiques have changed: you buy one or two pieces that make the room and then go around them with your other effects. Imagine that you find a massive gild frame- it’s old, it looks good, it’s got character, it jumps out off the wall. It’s awesome no matter what you do with it: put it over a sofa, in the dining room, even leaning up against a wall. But there won’t be an entire room of gild! Most people wouldn’t accompany the frame with gild sconces, a giant chandelier, etc.
3. Where do you find the treasures that fill your the store?
Backroads.
You have to be able to walk up to a complete stranger and say, “Hey, is there anything in that barn you have for sale?” One of the most important aspects of the business has to be people skills because if you’re not approachable, you can’t approach people. This is also the interesting part you meet people and get to listen to a story about where a given piece came from.
Hoarder’s houses.
We went to this one house that still had dust on everything from when they used coal fires to heat the house.
The usual haunts.
We go to auctions, estate sales, and we never miss a good garage sale! Now that we’ve been here for 3 years people know about us and where to come if they have things to trade or sell. We’ll also run into buildings that are falling down or have been condemned to see what may be salvaged.
4. Leo Kavanagh told me a great story about salvaging cherubs and carvings from the condemned Monkland Theater. Have you had similar success?
When we were living in Saint Henri they tore down a church to build condos. They were supposed to keep the church standing and incorporate it into the development because it was a historical monument but during the construction process the developers accidentally knocked the church down. One day, walking to the metro we noticed these giant mosaics leaning against the crumbled foundations of the church. A guy was standing there, so we asked him they were going to do with the mosaics and he told us they were throwing them out. We immediately said we would take them. He thought about this and told us he wanted something for them. We offered him $40. He agreed and asked for the money. When we told him we’d go take out some cash and be right back. He just looked at us and said, ‘too late’, taking his sledgehammer to the mosaics right there in front of us.
So yes, we do try and sometimes we do succeed, but other times these things are done fast and we’re unable to salvage anything!
5. In what ways has Montreal shaped your business?
Montreal is a cool mistress. It’s tough.
It’s hard to be respected in Montreal when you haven’t been respected outside of Montreal. We’ve started to get more recognition elsewhere and people are beginning to take notice here. It’s like musicians: you’re nobody until you’re somebody somewhere else- and then everybody is like ‘they’re from Montreal!’
Montreal’s an interesting place. Montrealers are smart: they know that if they hold out for garage sale season they might find what they’re looking for. Much of what we sell can seem expensive, but then people see the same piece in a magazine for thousands of dollars more. There’s this idea that antique dealers and vintage retailers get stuff for free or at the Salvation Army. Sometimes that’s the case, but we’re also travelling around to estate sales, auctions, to people’s houses and interacting with people who know what they have. Everybody thinks that we go in saying, ‘oh, that’s only worth $5, I’ll take it!’. Whether the owners are hoarders or crazy, they know what they’ve got: “Hey, I saw this on Ebay for 400 bucks!” Except, wait a minute: that’s the value after someone has fixed it up and put it in their online store, where they’re trying to make a living just as we are.
It can be hard to buy and sell, to negotiate these preconceptions. Sill, people come in to Kavanagh and love the store. While we do business with collectors, for the most part, we have a young audience. It’s hard because we understand and we’re not rich either! We try to be fair and sometimes it takes a bit longer to move bigger items. That’s Montreal to me.
6. Do you think that shows like the Antique Road Show and American/Canadian Pickers have had an impact on people’s expectations?
Absolutely, it’s like that expression: “a little bit of education is a dangerous thing”, because people end up think that everything they come across is gold and they can be really obstinate when you have to tell them it’s not.
People watch these shows and think, “these guys are going into barns in the middle of nowhere and picking up a rusty old coat hanger and selling it for $125.” When you look at it more closely though you realize that (a.) it’s television and (b.) they’re trying to push what the market is selling whether it’s old industrial, or ‘farm fresh’, or looks like it came out of a factory. To sell at the price the show suggests is next to impossible. You’re going to end up sitting on it!
7. As the second generation to take up the hunt, what lessons were learned?
You can ask any of the top antique dealers in town, Leo Kavanagh is still known for having one of the best eye’s in the city! He taught me how easy it is to get caught up in things. It’s the type of business where you’re constantly moving money in order to acquire more pieces. A lot of the time you’re buying with excitement and all the heart that goes into it… whether you have a client lined up for it or not, can be a different story!
8. How has the Internet changed the antique industry?
The Internet has changed the game with greater access to information and by giving us a storefront on the world. Dealers used to gather research from books and had a comparatively limited amount of information at their disposal. Now we have a Web’s worth of information at our fingertips, where before we only had access to one small part of it- Montreal. Back in the day, you couldn’t sell in New York, Chicago, or Japan. Unless the client came to you, you would buy and sell in your location.
The Internet has also had a visible impact on the industry: a lot of stores have closed as people sell straight out of their homes. Most dealers now have a warehouse or a giant out-building somewhere where they store their wares and fix them up to sell to clients or via online stores.
9. Where would you like to see Kavanagh in 10 years?
We would love to have a warehouse where people can shop and where everything has its own section: a lighting section, an architectural room, etc. We’d also like the whole process of running the shop to be more streamlined. We’re still new at the game and pick up tips from other entrepreneurs who have been exactly where we are in terms of running a small shop. Hopefully, in ten years we won’t be so small anymore!
Ultimately, we enjoy the treasure hunting aspect of vintage and antiques more than the retail side of things and we hope to be able to broaden our base and travel farther for our goodies. At this point we’re kind of tethered to a smaller area, as we have to come back to the shop to sell the stuff we find.
And there’s always stuff to find!
Leo: When I got out of the business people said to me, there’s nothing left out there: “It’s all been bought, there are no more antiques left”. Well, you just got to seek ‘em out. Everyday somebody’s finding some treasure somewhere. Under earth, or unlocked, or in a vault… and you just watch as the definition of treasure changes.
1. Are people buying antiques to value them as antiques, or to appropriate the old and recycle it into something new?
There’s definitely a trend towards recycling and reclaiming objects. It’s become a badge of honour for many people to reclaim something they’ve found. It goes along with the mindset many of making do without breaking the bank and seeing who can be the craftiest creating or reinventing something.
We live in a very consumer driven market where the message is constantly “buy, buy, buy!”: if it’s broken, just go out and replace it. In recent years, we’ve seen a backlash against stores like Ikea. People are tired of buying stuff that falls apart. There’s certainly the perception that if furniture from the 1950s has lasted this long, it tends to last. We have stuff that’s 200 years old in here, still usable and functional.
There’s room for nostalgia too: a lot of people want what they had when they were growing up. They come in to Kavanagh and they see a set of teak chairs that was in their parents or their grandparents house growing up.
2. How do people integrate the old with the new?
People now tend towards accent pieces. Just as with wardrobes, when you have a lovely broach accenting a blazer, in decorating we see a lovingly chosen piece as the accent for a room. The shift towards accent pieces marks a decisive change in buying habits and is the reason why many stores along Notre-Dame are now going under. [Beau’s] father, Leo Kavanagh, was a dealer for over 30 years. When business was booming people were decorating their entire house to look like the 1800s or another given period. ‘Modern’ and mid-century modern remain in that vein: enthusiasts will usually deck out their entire house.
For the most part though, tastes in antiques have changed: you buy one or two pieces that make the room and then go around them with your other effects. Imagine that you find a massive gild frame- it’s old, it looks good, it’s got character, it jumps out off the wall. It’s awesome no matter what you do with it: put it over a sofa, in the dining room, even leaning up against a wall. But there won’t be an entire room of gild! Most people wouldn’t accompany the frame with gild sconces, a giant chandelier, etc.
3. Where do you find the treasures that fill your the store?
Backroads.
You have to be able to walk up to a complete stranger and say, “Hey, is there anything in that barn you have for sale?” One of the most important aspects of the business has to be people skills because if you’re not approachable, you can’t approach people. This is also the interesting part you meet people and get to listen to a story about where a given piece came from.
Hoarder’s houses.
We went to this one house that still had dust on everything from when they used coal fires to heat the house.
The usual haunts.
We go to auctions, estate sales, and we never miss a good garage sale! Now that we’ve been here for 3 years people know about us and where to come if they have things to trade or sell. We’ll also run into buildings that are falling down or have been condemned to see what may be salvaged.
4. Leo Kavanagh told me a great story about salvaging cherubs and carvings from the condemned Monkland Theater. Have you had similar success?
When we were living in Saint Henri they tore down a church to build condos. They were supposed to keep the church standing and incorporate it into the development because it was a historical monument but during the construction process the developers accidentally knocked the church down. One day, walking to the metro we noticed these giant mosaics leaning against the crumbled foundations of the church. A guy was standing there, so we asked him they were going to do with the mosaics and he told us they were throwing them out. We immediately said we would take them. He thought about this and told us he wanted something for them. We offered him $40. He agreed and asked for the money. When we told him we’d go take out some cash and be right back. He just looked at us and said, ‘too late’, taking his sledgehammer to the mosaics right there in front of us.
So yes, we do try and sometimes we do succeed, but other times these things are done fast and we’re unable to salvage anything!
5. In what ways has Montreal shaped your business?
Montreal is a cool mistress. It’s tough.
It’s hard to be respected in Montreal when you haven’t been respected outside of Montreal. We’ve started to get more recognition elsewhere and people are beginning to take notice here. It’s like musicians: you’re nobody until you’re somebody somewhere else- and then everybody is like ‘they’re from Montreal!’
Montreal’s an interesting place. Montrealers are smart: they know that if they hold out for garage sale season they might find what they’re looking for. Much of what we sell can seem expensive, but then people see the same piece in a magazine for thousands of dollars more. There’s this idea that antique dealers and vintage retailers get stuff for free or at the Salvation Army. Sometimes that’s the case, but we’re also travelling around to estate sales, auctions, to people’s houses and interacting with people who know what they have. Everybody thinks that we go in saying, ‘oh, that’s only worth $5, I’ll take it!’. Whether the owners are hoarders or crazy, they know what they’ve got: “Hey, I saw this on Ebay for 400 bucks!” Except, wait a minute: that’s the value after someone has fixed it up and put it in their online store, where they’re trying to make a living just as we are.
It can be hard to buy and sell, to negotiate these preconceptions. Sill, people come in to Kavanagh and love the store. While we do business with collectors, for the most part, we have a young audience. It’s hard because we understand and we’re not rich either! We try to be fair and sometimes it takes a bit longer to move bigger items. That’s Montreal to me.
6. Do you think that shows like the Antique Road Show and American/Canadian Pickers have had an impact on people’s expectations?
Absolutely, it’s like that expression: “a little bit of education is a dangerous thing”, because people end up think that everything they come across is gold and they can be really obstinate when you have to tell them it’s not.
People watch these shows and think, “these guys are going into barns in the middle of nowhere and picking up a rusty old coat hanger and selling it for $125.” When you look at it more closely though you realize that (a.) it’s television and (b.) they’re trying to push what the market is selling whether it’s old industrial, or ‘farm fresh’, or looks like it came out of a factory. To sell at the price the show suggests is next to impossible. You’re going to end up sitting on it!
7. As the second generation to take up the hunt, what lessons were learned?
You can ask any of the top antique dealers in town, Leo Kavanagh is still known for having one of the best eye’s in the city! He taught me how easy it is to get caught up in things. It’s the type of business where you’re constantly moving money in order to acquire more pieces. A lot of the time you’re buying with excitement and all the heart that goes into it… whether you have a client lined up for it or not, can be a different story!
8. How has the Internet changed the antique industry?
The Internet has changed the game with greater access to information and by giving us a storefront on the world. Dealers used to gather research from books and had a comparatively limited amount of information at their disposal. Now we have a Web’s worth of information at our fingertips, where before we only had access to one small part of it- Montreal. Back in the day, you couldn’t sell in New York, Chicago, or Japan. Unless the client came to you, you would buy and sell in your location.
The Internet has also had a visible impact on the industry: a lot of stores have closed as people sell straight out of their homes. Most dealers now have a warehouse or a giant out-building somewhere where they store their wares and fix them up to sell to clients or via online stores.
9. Where would you like to see Kavanagh in 10 years?
We would love to have a warehouse where people can shop and where everything has its own section: a lighting section, an architectural room, etc. We’d also like the whole process of running the shop to be more streamlined. We’re still new at the game and pick up tips from other entrepreneurs who have been exactly where we are in terms of running a small shop. Hopefully, in ten years we won’t be so small anymore!
Ultimately, we enjoy the treasure hunting aspect of vintage and antiques more than the retail side of things and we hope to be able to broaden our base and travel farther for our goodies. At this point we’re kind of tethered to a smaller area, as we have to come back to the shop to sell the stuff we find.
And there’s always stuff to find!
{The final word}
Leo: When I got out of the business people said to me, there’s nothing left out there: “It’s all been bought, there are no more antiques left”. Well, you just got to seek ‘em out. Everyday somebody’s finding some treasure somewhere. Under earth, or unlocked, or in a vault… and you just watch as the definition of treasure changes.
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