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Wednesday 3 April 2013

Vintage Hunting On The Big Belgian Retro Fair


by Wendy Claus of Hippo's Dream


On 16th of March it was again the event of the year for me, the big Belgian retro fair.
You have to know that my birthday is on 7th of March and I always visit the market with my mom, who also loves vintage as much as me.
So this market is always a kind of birthday treat for me.

I had big plans this year, only to buy what I truly loved but not too heavy and not too big.
You need to know I sell vintage items in my Etsy shop called “Hippo’s Dream” and I am living in Belgium.
A lot of my customers, or almost all of them, live abroad so shipping big and heavy objects can be very expensive. So that is why I had to set my goal.
Only light and small but gorgeous objects!

So we entered the big hall and immediately my eyes starting scanning all the boots.
Such great objects, I knew this would be hard.

And then I saw them, these 3 little gorgeous and colorful mid century aperitif glasses, YES!
Love at first sight, and not only for me.
The moment I picked those up 2 other candidates were heavily disappointed.
And now the big question: Am I going to keep them for myself or are they going to the shop.
I doubted but then decided they would look so stunning on Hippo’s Dream.

The fist vintage find was a fact.

There were so many stalls; I was like a little kid in a candy store.
I quickly scanned my wish list in my head: some Belgian antique sculptures, fine glass ware, retro toys, quirky objects,…… too much.
Did I brought enough bags to carry everything?.......

I was also searching for some classy Art Deco cups or some vintage French cups.
And what do you think.
I have found them both.
If I was the customer I knew I would have a hard time choosing between them.

Time was progressing and I saw that a lot of people were coming in and they potentially would buy all the great stuff that I wanted.
At that moment I stepped up the pace still keeping my wish list in mind.

What was also important: mother and father day?
Did I see some items that would make a great present?
Things that I would give to my mum or dad?

Now that one is not easy as everybody’s mom and dad is differently so I just bought what I loved.

Then I saw some great presents.
Some delicate pink glassware for mum and super hero champagne glasses for dad.
As mums are sweet and kind and dads are heroes!
In the meanwhile we were already strolling for 3 full hours on the market and you could see the stalls became empty (and it was only 1 PM).
All the visitors who came in now had bad luck, all the great objects were almost gone.

Could I still find some last pieces that would fit my shop?
I had bought a lot of glasses and cups but some other things would also be nice like some antique figurine or some vintage home decoration.

But as a lot of objects were already sold this was not so easy.
I would not just buy anything.
I had to love it myself, that was/is the criteria.

But finally I scored the last pieces.
We were 3PM and our bags were full and I was satisfied.
We had bought so many things, much much more then I have mentioned here and I was happy as a child.

I could not wait to go home, have a good look and start taking pictures.

And then finally: list them on Hippo’s Dream and watch if people loved them as much as me.

Live can be great!

Wendy Claus

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