Vintage Sales Boomed as Everyone Stayed Inside for the Past Year

It’s hard to be stuck inside all day as most of us have been doing since the pandemic started in early 2020. But, it can be even more of drain to be sheltering in a home that is not your style or not what you eventually hoped your space could be. Because of so many people working from home and being inside all day, sales of many home and office items went through the roof. You may have witnessed this firsthand when a rug you were eyeing online suddenly sold out or was put on backorder for an unforeseeable period of time. But, vintage sellers also had a boon with their sales as people decided to spruce up their homes old school style.

In an interview after a long day of scouring yard sales vintage seller, Chris Grandmontagne, noted that her business had tripled since everyone was ordered to stay home. But, better work spaces and pretty vintage aesthetics weren’t the only things in play during the worst of the pandemic.

Grandmontagne said, “One of the things that really made the vintage market spike was that it was available. New furniture has to be produced. And so vintage furniture is already there. And it can just be loaded up and shipped out.”

While production lines were halted due to outbreaks or shortage of materials or government restrictions (depending on the area), vintage pieces were there all along to give people a new (old) look for their homes.

Even high end vintage sites, like Chairish, saw their business go up. Aside from the feature of not having to wait for items to be produced, the circular economy of vintage selling is appealing to a new generation of consumers who don’t want to see serviceable items thrown away. It remains to be seen if the pace of vintage sales will keep up as more and more people work from home on a permanent basis.

Have a look at how vintage pieces are selected for shops and how the past year has changed the industry in the video below.