What People Are Saying

How's Show Business?

Randall Decoteau

After a tough couple of years, rumor has it that show business is rounding the corner and is looking pretty good for lots of dealers. Attendance at shows seems better and the big fish seem to be biting again. NEAJ paid a visit to the Litchfield County Antiques Show in June to speak with several exhibitors about their personal experiences.

Our Exhibitors:

NEAJ: Tell us about your business, your inventory, and your customer base.
DANA TILLOU: I went on my own in 1965 and am still in the same location. My shop has three large rooms of English and American paintings, furniture, and objects of art. My furniture dates only up to 1840. I would say 50 percent of our business is in the western New York area and the other 50 percent is through shows elsewhere.
KATHY ROE: My husband and I focus primarily on antique garden items and architectural elements plus Americana, hooked rugs, and folk art. We started about 30 years ago and at this point in our life, we do mostly antique shows. While we were raising our family we had a shop at the house. Actually, most of our clients today are retail customers, and our customer base is becoming younger all the time. I think that the reason is because our focus is on our clients’ contemporary homes and how they decorate with genuine antiques.
ARTHUR LIVERANT: This is a third generation business started in 1920 when my grandfather was about 30 years old. I grew up in the business. My dad, who was Zeke, started in the early 1940s and I joined him in 1971. So, now I’m celebrating my 35th year with the firm. I do say celebrate because I love the business. We carry a broad range of American antiques specializing in New England eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furniture. Within that field we concentrate on Connecticut furniture. We also handle porcelain, needlework, paintings, and time pieces of the period.
STEPHEN WHITE: I’ve been in this business for 41 years. We have a shop on the Main Street of Skaneateles, New York, and my wife is an interior designer. I’m doing three Modernism shows per year now, so my inventory is getting younger. We sell antiques with a concentration in American furniture and appropriate accessories. However, we layer in Art Nouveau to Art Modern, Arts and Crafts, and Art Deco. Maybe a third of our inventory is now twentieth century stuff.

NEAJ: How long have you been doing shows? Do you depend solely on shows for your antiques business income?
KATHY ROE: We’ve been doing shows for 15 years. Our favorites are Wilton, the Spring Fair at the Blithewald Mansion in Bristol, Rhode Island, and our heart will always be in Heart of Country in Nashville. Heart of Country was our first show. In addition to show income, we have private clients who see us outside of shows and we have our website business.
ARTHUR LIVERANT: We do nine shows including the Philadelphia Hospital Show, the TAAS Show, and the ADA Deerfield Show. We also have a very active shop open six days per week, Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
STEPHEN WHITE: I did my first show in 1967 in Hartford. Today I do about 10 or 11 per year, many in the Midwest. Business between the shop and shows is maybe 40 percent shop and 60 percent show. Show business is always a little better.
DANA TILLOU: I started doing shows around 1965, but I only do about five per year. With an open gallery you don’t want to be away too long. Maybe 40 percent of my business comes from shows. The reason it’s that high is that I put away great things specifically for the shows. That’s the key to doing well at shows.

NEAJ: So how’s business these days? What’s hot on the selling floor?
ARTHUR LIVERANT: I don’t want to boast, but we are doing well over the last six months. The selling in the shop and at shows has been really rewarding and we’ve sold a lot of stuff. I’d like to think it’s a result of making great efforts to find high-end objects and treating our clients with respect. We offer a lot of attention to detail.
STEPHEN WHITE: Generally, business is not terrific, but I’m still making a living. I do appraisal and consulting work as well. Paintings have always been good to me as well as Modernist rattan and Deco furniture. I even sold recently a fabulous chrome kitchen set that was so bad it was good. It sold at a show in Detroit.
DANA TILLOU: The last few years the shop has slowed down a bit. A lot of my customers have aged and don’t need to add to their collections anymore. It depends what each person specializes in. For me business is good in paintings that are priced well. There’s a real surge in art sales right now.
KATHY ROE: Business has been very well for Danny and I, and I can honestly tell you that last year was our best since we started in business. I attribute that to getting a feel for what our clients want and being willing to change with the times. We focus our buying in other areas now – like American cast iron furniture, crushed stone garden items, and our traditional mainstay of good quality hooked rugs and rare American quilts.

NEAJ: Are both retail and trade customers buying? Have you noticed any changes in their shopping habits?
STEPHEN WHITE: I sell to both trade and retail customers. Maybe I sell 60 percent retail – and retail is growing for us because of my wife’s design business. Just recently we finished up a fabulous boathouse and filled it with great stuff. My customers are getting younger and they are buying younger stuff.
KATHY ROE: We sell to a more knowledgeable retail market today. The client is more focused, especially when working with a decorator who has a specific object in mind.
ARTHUR LIVERANT: Our retail market is probably 80 percent of our business, but we also sell to the trade because we buy primarily from private homes. We’ve been around so long, that when people want to sell things, they often give us the opportunity to buy outright. As to shopping habits, I think people are concentrating on finer things. They are more concerned about condition today and they tend to purchase with more thought to how things will fit into their collections.
DANA TILLOU: I do lots of business in the wholesale market and encourage it. Retail purchases are maybe half of my business. People tend to be a lot more careful today in looking things over. They don’t decide as quickly as they used to, maybe because they think more in terms of investment. Price is very important to today’s customer.

NEAJ: Do you have any predictions for the near future?
ARTHUR LIVERANT: The antiques business is dynamic and constantly changing. Our family business has been through the depressions and recessions of the economic world and we watch tastes constantly changing. Nathan Liverant doesn’t make the market; we participate in it. We have to stay tuned to the marketplace, to what collectors are buying now, and to what is passé. We would not succeed if we reflected the market of 20 years ago.
DANA TILLOU: My advice is to buy great quality, to be honest, and to make sure you price to a fair market value. Today’s market is unpredictable. Always guarantee your product.
KATHY ROE: I believe that the future of the antiques business lies in the attitude of the trade – the dealers and promoters. Both need to exhibit willingness to work with one another and maintain a positive attitude. We are in the business of preserving the history of this nation for future generations, and the education of this generation is vitally important. I encourage dealers to actively educate the public whenever possible.
STEPHEN WHITE: Predictions are very difficult; but I’m encouraged. Today we get bigger margins and sell fewer things to make the same money, but things don’t turn as fast as they used to. I’m an eternal optimist and I think if we keep at it, we’re going to do well. Sales are like the measles. The more you expose yourself, the more likely you are to catch them.