Viv Leonard from Arkwrights Antiques in Paeroa shared with us her experiences, hot items that are popular, and the items that are out of vogue at present.Viv is a Paeroa Rotarian and in November this year she would have been running Arkwright Antiques for 30 years and only this week has decided to sell it after 30 years in business.
There are 11 antique shops in Paeroa, and it is known as the ‘Antique Town of New Zealand’.
She sees herself as a ‘recycler’ and people are downsizing and so there is new items coming into the shop steadily.Due to Covid she has seen an upturn in business due to people not being to travel as much as they would usually do.
Some of the readily sought items include Gem Irons, bone handle cutlery, old style egg beaters, crystal, old metal toys, sterling silver, woolen blankets, Air N.Z. and N.Z. Rail memorabilia, good quality garden tools and oil and petrol memorabilia to name a few. Some of the more unusual items people seek for their collections include scissors, inkwells and egg beaters.
Quite often the older it is the more interesting it is.
Recently her Accountant asked her for a detailed stock take, Viv laughed and after some discussion he agreed to a good estimate would suffice.
Viv bought along a few pieces for members to look at and remember the bygone days.