December 11, 2024 • 21 mins
Uncover the inspiring journey of Ben and Channing Gardner, the dynamic duo behind Griffin Antiques, as they share how a mythological creature inspired a thriving business. Discover how their passion for antiques evolved from a personal hobby into a successful business, and how their unique skills—Ben's knack for sourcing and vendor relations, and Channing's technological acumen—create a seamless, shopper-friendly experience. As they reveal their future aspirations, including expanding locations and bolstering their online presence, you'll gain insights into their strategic vision for the antique industry.
Listen in as Repka shines a light on the power of collaboration in business success, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and complementary skills. Celebrate the growth of team member Zach and explore the supportive culture within Oklahoma's mall scene that the Gardners advocate. Whether you're an industry insider or an antique aficionado, our podcast promises valuable insights into design, vendor support, and the intricacies of running an antique business. Join us as we build a community that cherishes the beauty and history of antiques, bolstered by candid discussions, expert advice, and touching vendor stories.
Sponsored by The Griffin Antique Mall
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would like to introduce y'all to the owners of
the Griffin, ben and ChanningGardner.
Welcome you guys.
I want to jump right in withthe biggest question we get who
is the Griffin and how did itcome about?
So a lot of people assume it'sour last name and we'll even
have to call and say is Mr or Mror Mrs Griffin?
There there is no Griffin andI'll let you kind of tell us
(00:24):
more.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You're right, yeah, so we basically were going
through trying to figure outunique, um unique names and the
griffin, you know, it'smythological creature.
We started doing some researchon finding things that had some
meaning, and so the griffin is amythological g creature that
guards treasures.
So we felt like this is weneeded a guardian over all these
(00:48):
treasures.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And we wanted a logo that could stand on its own.
It didn't have.
It's transferable, so if weever opened multiple locations,
it would be able to go with us.
It wasn't racial specific, andso now we have a mascot.
And how did the all come about?
Yes, yeah.
(01:11):
So I have pretty vivid dreamsand then I become obsessed with
a dream until it greatallopathy's to know.
Um, but we had always lovedauntie's.
My Nana was an antique dealerand he grew up in his family and
then he had been reselling onFacebook for years.
(01:32):
And we opened up an antiquebooth in another mall here
locally and we really enjoyedthat process.
But it was a little bit too farof a drive and so then when we
started looking here in Edmondthere really wasn't anything
available.
So we figured why not do it ourown?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, kind of a.
You know we wanted to.
I think a lot of times it'sjust we just go all in and try
it and see you know how, if wecan make it work and how we want
to do it and do it our way ordo it do it differently, or when
we go out to other places, likewhat are the key aspects that
(02:08):
we pick up on that, or I wouldlike to do it this way, and so
we try to incorporate a lot ofthat stuff in our ventures.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And because we're shoppers and vendors, we really
built the mall with both ofthose people in mind, and so
there's some things here thatare just not at other places,
and a lot of them are justpersonal preferences for us.
Very good, and I know we'regrowing rapidly.
So where do you see the Griffinin, let's just say, five years?
(02:38):
That's a scary question to askme.
I mean, I see us with multiplelocations.
I see us with a big YouTube andonline social media presence.
I see us helping kind of coachother antique malls and bringing
them into the 21st century andkind of helping owners gain back
(02:59):
some of their freedom.
I see our vendors being able toship nationwide and hopefully
by that point we figured outenough that we can even do
international shipping, becausewe have quite a few people who
view our website internationally.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, I think for me it's, you know, because we each
have had our different strongsuits.
So me it's, you know.
How do we become that, thatstaple, like when someone needs
a quality piece or they needthis, like we are how to go to
whether that's locally but thenalso internationally.
So whether that's partneringwith interior designers, buyers,
(03:40):
that to me is kind of a funbusiness development where you
know how can we work together,collaborate with people to be
able to bring things into,whether that's new homes, old
homes, and then also, you know,I would like to someday open up
a few other little key aspectsof the store that I want to keep
a little closer to the chestuntil it's kind of time, but
(04:05):
there are.
There are things in the worksthat you know for expanding and
making it just a little morerobust of a of a store.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I love that.
How about you?
I mean definitely morelocations.
For sure, the website is takingoff so we can have a whole like
shipping department.
It would be really cool, and Ilove to go overseas.
I mean, I don a whole likeshipping department would be
really cool, um and I love to gooverseas.
I mean, I don't want to gooverseas, I don't stay here.
I would like to talk about ourrules in the mall.
So, ben, what do you do here?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
pester exactly um, my biggest thing is you know the
sourcing staging.
You know the sourcing staging.
You know kind of doing thebeing the muscle, helping people
move stuff around and then,yeah, just communicating, you
know, with our vendors if theyhave questions on like lighting,
(04:57):
you know how to put this inthere.
Maybe use of space historian.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
That you are.
You love history and generalideal, or idea person.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
historian that you are, you love history and
general ideal or idea person my,my logic yeah, voice of reason
nobody knows that I do.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So I I feel website a lot, that the SEO is up to date
and so we can be found onGoogle.
It's coming up with contentstrategy so that we can be seen
online.
It's making sure that oursoftware is operating properly,
features that are new, just ingeneral.
(05:42):
So it's not even that likeother than people are using them
like businesses smallbusinesses are not using them
right now.
So, making sure that that'soperating properly.
I design the contractsBasically.
Anything back end that soundsreally boring.
That's my jam.
There you go.
I really do believe withouteither one of your skill sets,
(06:03):
we would not be who we are today.
Really need like, be crazypeople, yeah, going through it
together and to have thosedifferent skill sets.
So it's great.
Yeah, how about you?
Oh man, so my second brain,right, I hire, I fire, I'm just
kidding, and then I help runsocial media.
(06:24):
I open the store.
I'm just kidding, and then we Ihelp run social media.
I open the store, I close thestore.
Communications, customercommunications Try to be a
little ideal factory Events yeah, my favorite role that you have
is you're responsible for thefeebling.
Feebling, yeah, because, well,just like, because I've got so
(06:50):
much ADHD and OCD, depending onwhere I am, and like production
wise of a project, I don't havethe bandwidth to like
communicate properly, likethere's times that I'm like I.
I need you to answer thisbecause I don't have a nice way
of saying it, and it's not thatI even had a rude way of saying
it.
It's just I literally don'tknow what to tell this person
about this thing.
I don't have the brain spacefor it, and so you handle most
(07:11):
of the people I do, I guess.
Yeah, and that means that whenI do the, when I do the peopling
, I can people better.
Yeah, because I'm not havingthe people all the time.
So what happens when I don'twant to people, we close.
Let's talk about Zach's film.
Okay, zach's not here.
He'll be here, he's off today,but Zach does the website and he
(07:34):
also helps manage the mall.
He opens and closes and vendorcommunication, customer
communication.
His main thing is the website.
So if you go to our website andyou see it, it's all him.
He takes beautiful photos,almost like professional
photographer style, does all theSEO, and every time we have an
order we are really excited.
And we're shipping every weeknow, which is awesome, and soon
(07:56):
it'll be every day.
Well, and what's really cool ishe doesn't come from the world
of antiques either.
And you got to think, when hetakes a photo, he's having to
write a description based onwhat the vendor said.
It is.
So if the vendor just says it'sa clear glass sugar bowl or
vase, he then is having toresearch is there a maker mark?
(08:16):
Do we know a time period?
What would be the uses of it?
And then he's writing thedescriptions, and so he's really
kind of like or tricking himinto right into researching and
just finding out more about youknow.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Is there a better way of saying clear base, is it cut
, is it pressed?
Is it this kind of?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
he's doing a great job and he gets so excited to
see like what he's learning andstuff like that.
So I love seeing that and thegrowth that we've seen from Zach
too is phenomenal.
When we first interviewed zach,he was so nervous that he could
barely finish his whole thing.
Yeah, and I was just tellinghim the other day I all I did
not think he was going to showup for today.
Yes, I said, man, I really didnot think that you were going to
(09:03):
show, but I'm so glad that youdid.
Yeah, and I know that we'vethrown him into so many roles
that like he was like I don'thave, I can't do that.
Like that is way above.
And then just the other day hecalled other antique malls who
he'd never met before, askingfor the owner specifically and
offering we have a little flyerthat we make for the other
(09:25):
antique malls to support theother antique malls and he was
asking if they wanted us to makethem a custom one.
I'm like, look at you go, lookat you go.
It's great That'll be the exam.
Yeah, he will, he's excited,we've been talking about it.
So that's another thing.
What do you want other peopleto know about the Griffiths?
Because I think in thebeginning it.
(09:48):
No one knows who we are, so whydon't we just touch really
quickly on who we are and ourpoint of view of the mall
culture here in Oklahoma?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yes, I think for me, you know, I think there's a lot
of distrust among, because Ithink, a lot of these people, in
what I can read online, thatthese people who have been in
this industry, whether that's avendor or owner for a long time,
they've, I mean, been screwedover before, and it's a lot of
(10:19):
distrust.
And so I think for us not beingin this, you know, before we
don't have that kind of baggagethat we're bringing into this,
don't have that kind of baggagethat we're bringing into this,
and so for us, or myself anyway,you know it's it's very, you
know, innocent, I guess is thebest way to describe it.
Like, I think for us, like Iwould love it if another shop
(10:40):
opened up right across thestreet, because I think if we,
you know, there's a hub, youknow, you have a lot more chance
of just drawing people in,because then they can kind of go
between stores and stuff, andso I think it's great, the more
that we can get them, especially, the closer you can get them
together.
You know, I think thateverybody can feed off of each
other.
They can have different events,they can have different things
(11:02):
that can draw people in, because, again, everybody was doing the
same thing.
You know I think it all kind offall flat.
And so for me particularly, youknow it's I like the idea of
collaborations.
I like the idea of eitherworking together because, you
know, not not every vendor canbe in every single mall.
(11:22):
So it's great because, like,one mall may be more, you know,
industrial farmhouse kind of raw, and then you can have others
that are more maybe refined, andthen some of them only deal
with European antiques, someonly deal with, you know, and so
for me it's kind of a neat waythat we can.
Then you know, someone's cominglooking for painted furniture.
(11:44):
Oh well, we don't.
You know, we have a couple ofpieces, but maybe we don't have
very much.
But we know this place has alot because there's three or
four vendors in there that thatis kind of their specialty is
like refinishing and paintingfurniture.
So to me, you know, I like theidea of being able to
collaborate and know each otherwell enough to say, hey, go over
(12:05):
here, because they have.
You know these people who thinkhave what you want, ear, because
they have.
You know these people who thinkhave what you want, um, and
that's part of like why we doflyer, why we created a website
to be able to have a directoryfor other people to to see,
cause also for them to plantrips when they come out of
state and stuff.
Um, but yeah, I mean, that'sthat's my perception of what
(12:25):
coming into this, you know, whatmy, what my hope is for the
future is that we can kind ofstart removing some of that
animosity that these people seemto have towards each other.
You know, instead of looking ateverything as just being so
competitive in the, you know, myevent was bigger than your
event or you know whatever thatyou know, everybody can just
(12:47):
kind of help each other, becauserising tide lifts off boats,
and so how can we rise the tidetogether?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, and I always tell our vendors if you're in
multiple malls, that's awesome,we will promote you, we will tag
other malls sharing you.
We want you to be successfulbecause your success is our
success.
Right, and I think that's justsomething that we've been saying
from the beginning and it'salmost like no one believes us.
But it's true, we're not hereto be.
I think it's part of hisnaivety.
Yeah, and it's.
(13:15):
It's really not naivety, it'sstrategic.
You know, like we, we are notbeing naive that if somebody
shuts this, I guess theviewpoint is is if somebody
shops over here, it doesn't meanthey're not going to shop.
Yeah, shops over here, itdoesn't mean they're not going
to shop.
You know, and I think sometimesthat's the way that it's viewed
Well, that's a customer loss?
Absolutely not.
Antique lovers want to see asmuch variety as possible.
(13:38):
The hunt is part of why theylove antiquing, and if they can
only hunt in one forest and theforest doesn't change often
they're going to lose interest.
But if they have so manydifferent options, then
everybody benefits.
Yeah, and so, yeah, I just wedon't believe that it is a
competition.
No, I sent a customer toanother mall the other day.
(14:00):
I thought the mall was gonna.
They thought I was up tosomething.
I'm like what are you doing?
I'm like this client neededthis.
I'm pretty sure you have it.
Do you want them quiet?
Like I'm not trying to be shady, I promise, just trying to get
the customer what they want andat the end of the day, that's
all that matters.
Right?
The vendors are happy, thecustomers are happy and in my
mind it's like miracle.
On 34th street we have seenthat santa sends them to another
(14:21):
mall the same thing.
So we're basically santa's.
Merry Christmas everybody.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and we've even helpedplace vendors too.
You know there's a few vendorsthat came in that our customer
base wasn't interested in whatthey had.
I'm not interested enough thatthey can make a profit here.
So instead of just being pissedthat they wanted to leave and
(14:44):
you know we said you know, yeah,we think you would be better
served over here.
In fact, you can help make anintroduction if you'd like.
And here's the booth spacesthat they have available right
now.
And you know, here's the bestway to reach them, because at
the end of the day, yeah, it'sabout letting the customer find
what the customer is looking forat the price point they're
looking for it and helping thevendors to make the profit that
(15:06):
they need to keep doing this,because a lot of these vendors,
this isn't what saves theirbills.
They just love and teach and aslong as it's not costing them
money, they're making someprofit.
They just want to keep shopping.
That's how we started.
We didn't want to stop shopping, but we couldn't keep hoarding
all the stuff and so we startedreselling and that way we get to
(15:30):
take the piece and we get tolove it for a while and then,
when we're done with the piece,we can sell it and then it's
been well taken care of.
But we don't think thatantiques should live in stores.
They should be someplace thatthey can be appreciated, whether
it's somebody's home or avintage mall where people can
pass by and appreciate it.
So let's talk about our podcast,our first go at this.
(15:52):
What can our listeners andviewers expect this season?
Chaos, pure and utter chaos.
I don't know what we're doing,guys, but let's just say for me,
I want people to know who weare as people, as mall owners,
as mall managers.
We live and work in Edmond.
We love this place.
I love Edmond.
I'm from here and I love thisplace.
I love Edmond, my in front hereand I love this place.
(16:14):
You can't you never leave.
My husband tried to get me toand I'm like now good, um, and
then also the inner workings atVermont is different from other
models and I want to.
I hope we can touch on all thatso people know how much thought
went into what we're doing withbarcodes, little sneak peek
barcodes, our 80, 20 rule, um,just some other rules, like
(16:38):
those sent to things, thosecandles.
That's been a huge one.
We've had so many customers,thanks for that, you know.
So just wanted, like that's forme, what I want to get out of
who we are and why we do what wedo.
Yeah, when I face it know, inline with the competitive nature
of this industry, my hope isthat by us talking about what we
do, how we do it, why we do it,that there's maybe somebody
(17:01):
else that's struggling in thisindustry that can take some of
these and it can make their lifea little bit easier.
You know, and I think the morethat we can open our doors and
our hearts to others, the betteroff the pc is as a whole, and
so I think that's one of mygoals for the podcast.
Yeah, can you get any time?
(17:21):
yeah we love to sit down withyou and just chat and help you
in any way, free and chargeadvice is free yeah, and I think
you know, for me it's that Ienjoy the stories about it.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
so I think that we'll probably have some episodes
where it may be helping peoplefigure out how to look at
stampings on silver or look atfurniture pieces and stuff.
So, from my side, doing somedesign aspects, and helping the
vendors too.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I know you want to talk about, like, how to set up
a booth successfully, whycertain aspects matter and the
little taboo things that youshould avoid yeah, uh, what to
avoid in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
And then also, you know, the natural flow of, like,
setting up a booth and whatkind of things do people want to
see, and then how to payattention to trends.
You know, because I'm notnecessarily the, you know, the
leader in following that kind ofstuff.
I'm working on getting better.
So this is kind of my journeyand going from just focusing
(18:25):
100% on what I like or just 100%on the trends Because, again,
if you just follow trends,you're always going to be
playing catch up because it'salways changing but like how you
incorporate little bits oftrends into what you already
have Like.
So if you you already have goodstate foundation, then you can
kind of incorporate, like, colorchanges and, um, you know,
(18:46):
different kinds of setupswithout having to like model and
so kind of touching up on, like, where to go to find those
things, or maybe that's some ofthe stuff that you know we we
cover in this periodic upcomingtrends that we see I also want
you to talk eventually about howto shop too, because I've heard
you tell vendors how to shop.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I never really looked at it that way because I'm not
a vendor, and when you weresaying all that it was very
mind-blowing.
What that's like, what that'sgenius, yeah, so that's very
helpful.
We'll probably end up havingsome of our vendors that are on
here for free interviews.
We just we really do appreciatethem so much and they've got
free stories, so we'd love totell some of those.
And then my hope would beeventually we're interviewing
(19:26):
other antique malls and talkingabout their origin and how
they're set up and what theirexperience has been.
We're coming for you In a niceway, in a nice way, not in a
creepy way In a nice way Withcandy.
With candy Well, I don't knowFree candy In the van.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It'll be interesting to see you know kind of some of
the feedback and stuff with.
You know who the listeners endup kind of being.
You know.
You know, is it mall owners, isit just people who enjoy
Antiques as a hobby or is itbooth owners?
And like I start seeing, I meanI think it's going to be
everyone also.
But you know, that's why wewant to kind of create like we
don't want to 100% focus on thisbeing mall ownership
(20:05):
information or booth ownerinformation.
We kind of want it to be.
Anybody can look at it forinspiration and say, oh, I can
take these things whenever I'mshopping.
Maybe some people are going tolearn you know better ways to
shop just for themselves.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
At any point you'll have questions that you want
answered yes.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Or email.
I'm sure we'll have an emaillink in there where you can find
us on all the socials.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Literally socials, literally, I like to say we're a
content company who happens tobe small time landlord rentals,
who also help customersmultifaceted awesome see you
next time bye.
I would like to introduce y'all to the owners of
the Griffin, ben and ChanningGardner.
Welcome you guys.
I want to jump right in withthe biggest question we get who
is the Griffin and how did itcome about?
So a lot of people assume it'sour last name and we'll even
have to call and say is Mr or Mror Mrs Griffin?
There there is no Griffin andI'll let you kind of tell us
(00:24):
more.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You're right, yeah, so we basically were going
through trying to figure outunique, um unique names and the
griffin, you know, it'smythological creature.
We started doing some researchon finding things that had some
meaning, and so the griffin is amythological g creature that
guards treasures.
So we felt like this is weneeded a guardian over all these
(00:48):
treasures.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And we wanted a logo that could stand on its own.
It didn't have.
It's transferable, so if weever opened multiple locations,
it would be able to go with us.
It wasn't racial specific, andso now we have a mascot.
And how did the all come about?
Yes, yeah.
(01:11):
So I have pretty vivid dreamsand then I become obsessed with
a dream until it greatallopathy's to know.
Um, but we had always lovedauntie's.
My Nana was an antique dealerand he grew up in his family and
then he had been reselling onFacebook for years.
(01:32):
And we opened up an antiquebooth in another mall here
locally and we really enjoyedthat process.
But it was a little bit too farof a drive and so then when we
started looking here in Edmondthere really wasn't anything
available.
So we figured why not do it ourown?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, kind of a.
You know we wanted to.
I think a lot of times it'sjust we just go all in and try
it and see you know how, if wecan make it work and how we want
to do it and do it our way ordo it do it differently, or when
we go out to other places, likewhat are the key aspects that
(02:08):
we pick up on that, or I wouldlike to do it this way, and so
we try to incorporate a lot ofthat stuff in our ventures.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And because we're shoppers and vendors, we really
built the mall with both ofthose people in mind, and so
there's some things here thatare just not at other places,
and a lot of them are justpersonal preferences for us.
Very good, and I know we'regrowing rapidly.
So where do you see the Griffinin, let's just say, five years?
(02:38):
That's a scary question to askme.
I mean, I see us with multiplelocations.
I see us with a big YouTube andonline social media presence.
I see us helping kind of coachother antique malls and bringing
them into the 21st century andkind of helping owners gain back
(02:59):
some of their freedom.
I see our vendors being able toship nationwide and hopefully
by that point we figured outenough that we can even do
international shipping, becausewe have quite a few people who
view our website internationally.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, I think for me it's, you know, because we each
have had our different strongsuits.
So me it's, you know.
How do we become that, thatstaple, like when someone needs
a quality piece or they needthis, like we are how to go to
whether that's locally but thenalso internationally.
So whether that's partneringwith interior designers, buyers,
(03:40):
that to me is kind of a funbusiness development where you
know how can we work together,collaborate with people to be
able to bring things into,whether that's new homes, old
homes, and then also, you know,I would like to someday open up
a few other little key aspectsof the store that I want to keep
a little closer to the chestuntil it's kind of time, but
(04:05):
there are.
There are things in the worksthat you know for expanding and
making it just a little morerobust of a of a store.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I love that.
How about you?
I mean definitely morelocations.
For sure, the website is takingoff so we can have a whole like
shipping department.
It would be really cool, and Ilove to go overseas.
I mean, I don a whole likeshipping department would be
really cool, um and I love to gooverseas.
I mean, I don't want to gooverseas, I don't stay here.
I would like to talk about ourrules in the mall.
So, ben, what do you do here?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
pester exactly um, my biggest thing is you know the
sourcing staging.
You know the sourcing staging.
You know kind of doing thebeing the muscle, helping people
move stuff around and then,yeah, just communicating, you
know, with our vendors if theyhave questions on like lighting,
(04:57):
you know how to put this inthere.
Maybe use of space historian.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
That you are.
You love history and generalideal, or idea person.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
historian that you are, you love history and
general ideal or idea person my,my logic yeah, voice of reason
nobody knows that I do.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So I I feel website a lot, that the SEO is up to date
and so we can be found onGoogle.
It's coming up with contentstrategy so that we can be seen
online.
It's making sure that oursoftware is operating properly,
features that are new, just ingeneral.
(05:42):
So it's not even that likeother than people are using them
like businesses smallbusinesses are not using them
right now.
So, making sure that that'soperating properly.
I design the contractsBasically.
Anything back end that soundsreally boring.
That's my jam.
There you go.
I really do believe withouteither one of your skill sets,
(06:03):
we would not be who we are today.
Really need like, be crazypeople, yeah, going through it
together and to have thosedifferent skill sets.
So it's great.
Yeah, how about you?
Oh man, so my second brain,right, I hire, I fire, I'm just
kidding, and then I help runsocial media.
(06:24):
I open the store.
I'm just kidding, and then we Ihelp run social media.
I open the store, I close thestore.
Communications, customercommunications Try to be a
little ideal factory Events yeah, my favorite role that you have
is you're responsible for thefeebling.
Feebling, yeah, because, well,just like, because I've got so
(06:50):
much ADHD and OCD, depending onwhere I am, and like production
wise of a project, I don't havethe bandwidth to like
communicate properly, likethere's times that I'm like I.
I need you to answer thisbecause I don't have a nice way
of saying it, and it's not thatI even had a rude way of saying
it.
It's just I literally don'tknow what to tell this person
about this thing.
I don't have the brain spacefor it, and so you handle most
(07:11):
of the people I do, I guess.
Yeah, and that means that whenI do the, when I do the peopling
, I can people better.
Yeah, because I'm not havingthe people all the time.
So what happens when I don'twant to people, we close.
Let's talk about Zach's film.
Okay, zach's not here.
He'll be here, he's off today,but Zach does the website and he
(07:34):
also helps manage the mall.
He opens and closes and vendorcommunication, customer
communication.
His main thing is the website.
So if you go to our website andyou see it, it's all him.
He takes beautiful photos,almost like professional
photographer style, does all theSEO, and every time we have an
order we are really excited.
And we're shipping every weeknow, which is awesome, and soon
(07:56):
it'll be every day.
Well, and what's really cool ishe doesn't come from the world
of antiques either.
And you got to think, when hetakes a photo, he's having to
write a description based onwhat the vendor said.
It is.
So if the vendor just says it'sa clear glass sugar bowl or
vase, he then is having toresearch is there a maker mark?
(08:16):
Do we know a time period?
What would be the uses of it?
And then he's writing thedescriptions, and so he's really
kind of like or tricking himinto right into researching and
just finding out more about youknow.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Is there a better way of saying clear base, is it cut
, is it pressed?
Is it this kind of?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
he's doing a great job and he gets so excited to
see like what he's learning andstuff like that.
So I love seeing that and thegrowth that we've seen from Zach
too is phenomenal.
When we first interviewed zach,he was so nervous that he could
barely finish his whole thing.
Yeah, and I was just tellinghim the other day I all I did
not think he was going to showup for today.
Yes, I said, man, I really didnot think that you were going to
(09:03):
show, but I'm so glad that youdid.
Yeah, and I know that we'vethrown him into so many roles
that like he was like I don'thave, I can't do that.
Like that is way above.
And then just the other day hecalled other antique malls who
he'd never met before, askingfor the owner specifically and
offering we have a little flyerthat we make for the other
(09:25):
antique malls to support theother antique malls and he was
asking if they wanted us to makethem a custom one.
I'm like, look at you go, lookat you go.
It's great That'll be the exam.
Yeah, he will, he's excited,we've been talking about it.
So that's another thing.
What do you want other peopleto know about the Griffiths?
Because I think in thebeginning it.
(09:48):
No one knows who we are, so whydon't we just touch really
quickly on who we are and ourpoint of view of the mall
culture here in Oklahoma?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yes, I think for me, you know, I think there's a lot
of distrust among, because Ithink, a lot of these people, in
what I can read online, thatthese people who have been in
this industry, whether that's avendor or owner for a long time,
they've, I mean, been screwedover before, and it's a lot of
(10:19):
distrust.
And so I think for us not beingin this, you know, before we
don't have that kind of baggagethat we're bringing into this,
don't have that kind of baggagethat we're bringing into this,
and so for us, or myself anyway,you know it's it's very, you
know, innocent, I guess is thebest way to describe it.
Like, I think for us, like Iwould love it if another shop
(10:40):
opened up right across thestreet, because I think if we,
you know, there's a hub, youknow, you have a lot more chance
of just drawing people in,because then they can kind of go
between stores and stuff, andso I think it's great, the more
that we can get them, especially, the closer you can get them
together.
You know, I think thateverybody can feed off of each
other.
They can have different events,they can have different things
(11:02):
that can draw people in, because, again, everybody was doing the
same thing.
You know I think it all kind offall flat.
And so for me particularly, youknow it's I like the idea of
collaborations.
I like the idea of eitherworking together because, you
know, not not every vendor canbe in every single mall.
(11:22):
So it's great because, like,one mall may be more, you know,
industrial farmhouse kind of raw, and then you can have others
that are more maybe refined, andthen some of them only deal
with European antiques, someonly deal with, you know, and so
for me it's kind of a neat waythat we can.
Then you know, someone's cominglooking for painted furniture.
(11:44):
Oh well, we don't.
You know, we have a couple ofpieces, but maybe we don't have
very much.
But we know this place has alot because there's three or
four vendors in there that thatis kind of their specialty is
like refinishing and paintingfurniture.
So to me, you know, I like theidea of being able to
collaborate and know each otherwell enough to say, hey, go over
(12:05):
here, because they have.
You know these people who thinkhave what you want, ear, because
they have.
You know these people who thinkhave what you want, um, and
that's part of like why we doflyer, why we created a website
to be able to have a directoryfor other people to to see,
cause also for them to plantrips when they come out of
state and stuff.
Um, but yeah, I mean, that'sthat's my perception of what
(12:25):
coming into this, you know, whatmy, what my hope is for the
future is that we can kind ofstart removing some of that
animosity that these people seemto have towards each other.
You know, instead of looking ateverything as just being so
competitive in the, you know, myevent was bigger than your
event or you know whatever thatyou know, everybody can just
(12:47):
kind of help each other, becauserising tide lifts off boats,
and so how can we rise the tidetogether?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, and I always tell our vendors if you're in
multiple malls, that's awesome,we will promote you, we will tag
other malls sharing you.
We want you to be successfulbecause your success is our
success.
Right, and I think that's justsomething that we've been saying
from the beginning and it'salmost like no one believes us.
But it's true, we're not hereto be.
I think it's part of hisnaivety.
Yeah, and it's.
(13:15):
It's really not naivety, it'sstrategic.
You know, like we, we are notbeing naive that if somebody
shuts this, I guess theviewpoint is is if somebody
shops over here, it doesn't meanthey're not going to shop.
Yeah, shops over here, itdoesn't mean they're not going
to shop.
You know, and I think sometimesthat's the way that it's viewed
Well, that's a customer loss?
Absolutely not.
Antique lovers want to see asmuch variety as possible.
(13:38):
The hunt is part of why theylove antiquing, and if they can
only hunt in one forest and theforest doesn't change often
they're going to lose interest.
But if they have so manydifferent options, then
everybody benefits.
Yeah, and so, yeah, I just wedon't believe that it is a
competition.
No, I sent a customer toanother mall the other day.
(14:00):
I thought the mall was gonna.
They thought I was up tosomething.
I'm like what are you doing?
I'm like this client neededthis.
I'm pretty sure you have it.
Do you want them quiet?
Like I'm not trying to be shady, I promise, just trying to get
the customer what they want andat the end of the day, that's
all that matters.
Right?
The vendors are happy, thecustomers are happy and in my
mind it's like miracle.
On 34th street we have seenthat santa sends them to another
(14:21):
mall the same thing.
So we're basically santa's.
Merry Christmas everybody.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and we've even helpedplace vendors too.
You know there's a few vendorsthat came in that our customer
base wasn't interested in whatthey had.
I'm not interested enough thatthey can make a profit here.
So instead of just being pissedthat they wanted to leave and
(14:44):
you know we said you know, yeah,we think you would be better
served over here.
In fact, you can help make anintroduction if you'd like.
And here's the booth spacesthat they have available right
now.
And you know, here's the bestway to reach them, because at
the end of the day, yeah, it'sabout letting the customer find
what the customer is looking forat the price point they're
looking for it and helping thevendors to make the profit that
(15:06):
they need to keep doing this,because a lot of these vendors,
this isn't what saves theirbills.
They just love and teach and aslong as it's not costing them
money, they're making someprofit.
They just want to keep shopping.
That's how we started.
We didn't want to stop shopping, but we couldn't keep hoarding
all the stuff and so we startedreselling and that way we get to
(15:30):
take the piece and we get tolove it for a while and then,
when we're done with the piece,we can sell it and then it's
been well taken care of.
But we don't think thatantiques should live in stores.
They should be someplace thatthey can be appreciated, whether
it's somebody's home or avintage mall where people can
pass by and appreciate it.
So let's talk about our podcast,our first go at this.
(15:52):
What can our listeners andviewers expect this season?
Chaos, pure and utter chaos.
I don't know what we're doing,guys, but let's just say for me,
I want people to know who weare as people, as mall owners,
as mall managers.
We live and work in Edmond.
We love this place.
I love Edmond.
I'm from here and I love thisplace.
I love Edmond, my in front hereand I love this place.
(16:14):
You can't you never leave.
My husband tried to get me toand I'm like now good, um, and
then also the inner workings atVermont is different from other
models and I want to.
I hope we can touch on all thatso people know how much thought
went into what we're doing withbarcodes, little sneak peek
barcodes, our 80, 20 rule, um,just some other rules, like
(16:38):
those sent to things, thosecandles.
That's been a huge one.
We've had so many customers,thanks for that, you know.
So just wanted, like that's forme, what I want to get out of
who we are and why we do what wedo.
Yeah, when I face it know, inline with the competitive nature
of this industry, my hope isthat by us talking about what we
do, how we do it, why we do it,that there's maybe somebody
(17:01):
else that's struggling in thisindustry that can take some of
these and it can make their lifea little bit easier.
You know, and I think the morethat we can open our doors and
our hearts to others, the betteroff the pc is as a whole, and
so I think that's one of mygoals for the podcast.
Yeah, can you get any time?
(17:21):
yeah we love to sit down withyou and just chat and help you
in any way, free and chargeadvice is free yeah, and I think
you know, for me it's that Ienjoy the stories about it.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
so I think that we'll probably have some episodes
where it may be helping peoplefigure out how to look at
stampings on silver or look atfurniture pieces and stuff.
So, from my side, doing somedesign aspects, and helping the
vendors too.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I know you want to talk about, like, how to set up
a booth successfully, whycertain aspects matter and the
little taboo things that youshould avoid yeah, uh, what to
avoid in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
And then also, you know, the natural flow of, like,
setting up a booth and whatkind of things do people want to
see, and then how to payattention to trends.
You know, because I'm notnecessarily the, you know, the
leader in following that kind ofstuff.
I'm working on getting better.
So this is kind of my journeyand going from just focusing
(18:25):
100% on what I like or just 100%on the trends Because, again,
if you just follow trends,you're always going to be
playing catch up because it'salways changing but like how you
incorporate little bits oftrends into what you already
have Like.
So if you you already have goodstate foundation, then you can
kind of incorporate, like, colorchanges and, um, you know,
(18:46):
different kinds of setupswithout having to like model and
so kind of touching up on, like, where to go to find those
things, or maybe that's some ofthe stuff that you know we we
cover in this periodic upcomingtrends that we see I also want
you to talk eventually about howto shop too, because I've heard
you tell vendors how to shop.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I never really looked at it that way because I'm not
a vendor, and when you weresaying all that it was very
mind-blowing.
What that's like, what that'sgenius, yeah, so that's very
helpful.
We'll probably end up havingsome of our vendors that are on
here for free interviews.
We just we really do appreciatethem so much and they've got
free stories, so we'd love totell some of those.
And then my hope would beeventually we're interviewing
(19:26):
other antique malls and talkingabout their origin and how
they're set up and what theirexperience has been.
We're coming for you In a niceway, in a nice way, not in a
creepy way In a nice way Withcandy.
With candy Well, I don't knowFree candy In the van.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It'll be interesting to see you know kind of some of
the feedback and stuff with.
You know who the listeners endup kind of being.
You know.
You know, is it mall owners, isit just people who enjoy
Antiques as a hobby or is itbooth owners?
And like I start seeing, I meanI think it's going to be
everyone also.
But you know, that's why wewant to kind of create like we
don't want to 100% focus on thisbeing mall ownership
(20:05):
information or booth ownerinformation.
We kind of want it to be.
Anybody can look at it forinspiration and say, oh, I can
take these things whenever I'mshopping.
Maybe some people are going tolearn you know better ways to
shop just for themselves.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
At any point you'll have questions that you want
answered yes.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Or email.
I'm sure we'll have an emaillink in there where you can find
us on all the socials.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Literally socials, literally, I like to say we're a
content company who happens tobe small time landlord rentals,
who also help customersmultifaceted awesome see you
next time bye.
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