As the first female sales rep for Baker furniture years ago, Ginger Craft has been enhancing home decor her entire professional life. Ginger traveled the country for Baker before settling down to raise a family. And even after she had children, she built and renovated several high end spec homes to sell. “I loved taking an older home or a house that was difficult to sell and updating it for the current lifestyle.” And decorating went hand in hand with this venture. 
This led her to open a home decor shop in Sea Island Georgia called, Ginger’s Low Country Antiques. It was an area favorite for the last 10 years. But now with the landlord moving on to other things, Ginger is focusing on more local projects. By chance someone here knew someone in Georgia who knew Ginger and reached out to connect the two about a Connecticut consignment shop called Severed Ties. “The timing was perfect. With Low Country Antiques closing, a store closer to home made perfect sense.” So in March 2011, Ginger took the reins of this long standing boutique in New Canaan, CT.
Ginger says, “I love the energy in the shop. I’m a people person and with a storefront, new people are always coming in. Working for yourself gives you such freedom and flexibility.” She also says it feels good to help people in transition. Severed Ties gets pieces from not only people who are redecorating but also from estates or people who are changing their lives. Not having to purchase inventory is a great business model; Severed Ties gets 40% of the sale price and the seller gets 60%.
Everything from couches and lamps to artwork and jewelry is brought in to be consigned. Ginger works with several experts in various fields to help consignors determine what to ask for their treasures. “We do a great deal of our own research but we have art specialists, jewelry specialists, and antique dealers who we rely on to help us mark things at the right price.” They even buy gold and silver by weight and the current market price.
And Ginger has added a custom upholstered furniture line to the store. So you can get seating along with interesting lamps, decorative items and artwork to give your home the look and feel you desire. Ginger’s esthetic for decor is to mix the old with the new so what better person to manage a consignment boutique. Walking through the store the shopper will find vignettes so they can see how the pieces will look in a room.
“There is such a move towards modern right now but everything is cyclical. It’s such a great time to invest in English antiques. They should go up in price as people circle back to the classic look.” Some of the most interesting pieces that come in are jewelry items from well known names like Tiffany and Cartier. Ginger says she consigned an art deco bracelet in the 6 figure range, “A woman was moving to Montana and didn’t see a need for the piece any longer. Some lucky local wears it now.”
“I’d like to teach the younger buyers the art of collecting pieces that retain their value. That’s what we work to showcase in our shop.” With consigners coming in and calling Ginger to look at entire estates the inventory is constantly changing and being updated. So a true collector should stop by at least a few times a month – you never know what treasure you’ll find.
Look for vignettes from Severed Ties in VentureMom @ Home on the blog and in the VentureMom Marketplace.
