“If someone asked, ‘What do you specialize in?’ I’d say wood furniture and lamps,” said Joe Cummings. “Our business card says unique country antiques, but trying to find unique country antiques is really hard now.”
Joe and Elaine Cummings own Yellow Magnolia Antiques in Hancock. They’ve run their shop out of the garage attached to their yellow-painted home since 2015, but in the last couple years, COVID has completely changed the way people buy and sell antiques. They have had to adapt their business to keep up.
“When we first started, we put the flag out, put signs up on Route 202,” Joe said. “Now it’s all different.”
The couple has realized they need to be active on Facebook and update their website. They’ve had to accept that the antique world has moved in a digital direction, probably permanently.
“There used to be an auction we would go to Saturday nights,” Joe said. “It was like a date night.”
Elaine added, “The energy in an auction can be so much fun. You get to know people. There’s real camaraderie.”
But there aren’t many live auctions anymore. Most have moved online. This allowed them to continue throughout the pandemic, and auctioneers discovered that they were able to safely reach more people from farther away with fewer auctions.
For antique-shop owners like Joe and Elaine, however, it has been challenging.
“We don’t know who we’re bidding against,” said Joe.
And the prices of antiques have increased.
Elaine said, “You used to be bidding against locals.” But online auctions can reach everywhere. “And now people from more-expensive areas to live can keep running prices up,” she explained.
COVID also caused a decrease in visitors to their home shop, and no visitors for a while.
The Cummingses recognized that they needed to use the internet to their advantage.
“The minute we get something we put it on Facebook Marketplace. We get people from all over,” said Joe. They’ve met people halfway to New York to sell items.
“We like old houses. We like old stuff. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it can’t be used every day,” said Joe. “I think people will always be looking for antiques. I don’t think they’ll suddenly disappear.”
“I learned very quickly that antiques go in and out of fashion,” Elaine said.
“It’s fun when we find something we really like and find an owner for that,” said Joe, adding that customers often will text a photo of the piece in its new home. But he said, “One problem is you buy stuff to sell and then keep it.” He motioned to the round dining table and the chairs around it. The antiques are everywhere in their home.
Joe and Elaine know that their location is remote, but they aren’t willing to open a storefront somewhere busier or move out of the community they have grown to love. Joe said he always tells people to stop by Fiddleheads if they haven’t had lunch, and they’ve often had people staying at the inn stop by in past years.
“Hancock is such a quintessential town. It deserves to have an antique shop,” said Joe.
Yellow Magnolia Antiques can be found on Facebook, and its website is nhyellowmagnoliaantiques.com. They are located at 5 Bennington Road in Hancock and are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.