Vintage Dealer Interview No. 5 = The Dove Cote Brocante

August 3, 2014

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We had really nice weather here. Just a few rain showers. I didn’t get out to do any picking, but hopefully everyone else did. We have been doing “Saturday Junkin” posts over on our Facebook page for those of you that are just stopping by for the first time. Dealers are free to post pics of their weekend treasures. Also, we are trying to get more involved with Instagram. You can find us here. 

Today, we are interviewing Aspen Robinson from The Dove Cote Brocante. This Mother/Daughter duo have been in the industry for 25 years. All of their contact info is available at the bottom of this post. We are so happy to have them for our interview today. So let’s get started. 

1. How long have you been a vintage dealer? We are a mother-daughter team and have been doing this for 25 years.

2. What type of setting are you in? We have 2 shops but do a lot of large shows around the US and began about 3 years ago doing shows on a regular basis.

3. How many booths do you have? We have had 2 spaces in the past until we expanded into our own shop and show circuit.

4. What do you sell? We sell a mix of architectural, garden, French Antiques, and handmade jewelry and home accessories.

5. What do you find sells the most? Architectural and Handmade Items.

6. What do find sells the least? Project pieces that still need work and glass/pottery. 

7. Why do you think your booth has been successful? Our booths are always designed around a whimsical theme mixed with our vintage pieces and we really try to make it only quality items.

8. How often do you refresh your booth? Probably Daily!

9.  What mistakes have you made and learned from as dealer? Don’t buy things you wouldn’t have in your own home or your on the fence about because your customer will be too and it will make it harder to stage and sell items you don’t truly adore.

10. What advice do you have for someone just starting out? Don’t try everything, pick what you really love and can stand behind and be selective about working only with people who support your hard work and talent.

11. What do you think the number one mistake is that unsuccessful dealers make? Just because you can buy it cheap doesn’t mean it will sell! Vintage items should be TRUE vintage items not yard sale material. 

12. Do you do this full time? Yes 24/7. 🙂

13. Do you stick to a specific color scheme with your booth? For the most part its muted grays and creams but if we have something really grand we will build a display around it.

14. Do you utilize social media, and if so, which ones work best? Yes, Facebook and Instagram are our faves.

15. What is an average month in sales for your booth? Truly a seasonal question and really is reflective of how much time we are working our social media as they are closely related.


16. How do you break down and come up with your prices? We don’t buy an item unless we can at least double our money or sometimes if we get a steal  sometimes it can be more than double depending on the value.

Do you have anything further to add to this interview? You have to truly love doing this because the amount of time spent creating the perfect vignette is astronomical sometimes, the stress over making the perfect setting, finding the perfect pieces and the physical labor are quite the investment. It’s truly an occupation of love.

Aspen Robinson
The Dove Cote Brocante
811 Beech St~ 310 Ash St, Fernandina Beach FL 32034
(912)227-0319 ~ (912)227-0597

www.facebook.com/thedovecotebrocante

Thank you again, Aspen. Great interview!! 

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