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Discover Mid-America — September 2006
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On to something
by Bruce Rodgers, Editor/Publisher
If you read this month’s cover feature on the Chicago Antique Market, it’s not hard to come away concluding that Kathleen Finley and Sally Schwartz are on to something. As the Market founders, they’ve created a two-prong “something.”
Both the buyer (customer) and the seller (dealer) gain by being a part of the Market. Customers have access to a large variety of quality antiques and other unique goods, offered in the wide range of prices and sold by people who know about what they’re selling. All presented in a relaxing atmosphere.
The dealer gets to set up in an attractive and interesting venue easily accessible from highways, operated by people who know what they’re doing. Plus, it’s situated in one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas with a sizeable contingent of sophisticated consumers.
In a nutshell, the Chicago Antique Market is fun and easy to find and get to.
Of course, all this was planned. Not down to the minute details, but planned in the sense that Finley and Schwartz had a vision of what they wanted and went after it. They studied the antiques and collectibles trade, talked with the right people, traveled to other antique markets and malls, and capitalize on their backgrounds and experiences in communication, advertising and marketing to bring it all together. Serendipity was a factor, and having personalities that were both tenacious and appealing helped make what they were trying to do happen, too.
What’s impressive also is how the women use their advertising dollars in going after a younger demographic — without compromising the advantages of traditional trade advertising outlets — create monthly themes to garner press attention and leverage those themes with public relations ties-ins to what the city of Chicago or other organizations may be doing.
It’s smart and shrewd, giving the Chicago Antique Market a noticeable and growing identity in a very competitive business and city.
And there’s the intangible: energy. Finley and Schwartz are really into what they do. They are very hands-on and solve problems at ground level. Their “vibe” is one of creativity and appreciation of others who are creative — that extends down to the customer who comes through the gate.
A lot of things contribute to the good energy coming off the Chicago Antique Market — the comfortable environment, the skyline, the vendors and dealers, the Plumbers Building, the surrounding neighborhood — but the energy begins with and is sustained by Schwartz and Finley.
Schwartz said that when she traveled around the Midwest doing research before opening the Market, she found a “kiss of death in some places…that maybe none of this stuff will ever be bought again. Nobody’s going to want them.”
Unfortunately, she is right.
But no such cloud hangs over the Chicago Market. There is life there, and a lot of fun in discovering it.
Bruce Rodgers can be contacted at publisher@discoverypub.com.
> Editor’s Notebook Archive — past columns