Last weekend my friend John took me to his favorite thrift store. Pretty sure he didn’t know how much I love other people’s junk or that I needed a small table for my record player. Either way we ended up at a spot called Santiago’s Collectibles.
It’s small and full of flea market finds and original wood work. If that’s not enough, the owner had the back door open and was outside creating new stuff as we walked around admiring his handwork. It doesn’t happen nearly enough, but whenever business owners trust customers enough not to follow them around with the stink eye, I know for sure that I’m gonna spend my money in that establishment. You trust me, I support you. Sadly, in small specialty shops this is not always the case. So this alone gave me reason to continue looking around for something to bring home.
The first thing that struck my fancy was this handmade shelf you see above. I’ve been wanting to host a backyard brunch for a while now and I feel like it would be dope to place all my glassware on this so it doesn’t clutter tables. Because the owner has several of them I think if I purchase it I would ask that he add simple doors to the front of it as well. Not sure why I want that, but it’s what I visualized. You see John’s arm in the frame because he was visualizing color blocked sections in the back and I wanted to remember that. Okay, not really, I just don’t take very good pictures. BUT…I do kinda dig his color blocked sections idea too.
Sidenote #1: I usually refer to John as “Little John” in person, but grown men hate it when you reduce their stature with words like little. So, for this piece I forced myself to only refer to him by his given name. I’m sure he would approve.
Sidenote #2: I think about music ALL the time. So naturally while I was looking around this MNDSGN song was in my head, mostly because the video is exactly how I feel when I’m at regular thrift stores. I love it and thought I would share it because you might dig it too. Ps. If you’re ever in a thrift store and find a Stones Throw tee-shirt on rack for 95 cents you better grab it for me. Fareals.
Devoya Mayo is Co-Creator of The Happy Black Girl
Get To Know An HBG is her favorite column to write.
You can contact her directly at thehappyblackgirl@gmail.com