Eric White said that he has always had a fascination with antiques, vintage collectibles and reselling items, a hobby that has evolved over the years into Vintiques of Maine, a Main Street, Norway, business that sells an assortment of vintage wares, antiques and oddities, many of which are one of a kind.

For White, as long as the items are “cool” and unique he’s interested in buying for resale. “We’re always, always, always looking for unique items to buy,” he said.

The store recently got its pawnbroker and auctioneer licenses as well. “All sorts of good things are happening around here,” he said.

Name: Eric White

Age: 43

Hometown: South Paris

How did you get into selling antiques and owning an antique store? I’ve always loved antiques and old items. My parents did yard sales and flea markets when I was younger and would try to get bargains on stuff. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in buying and reselling.

Before I opened my own store in Maine, I actually worked as a retail manager for 14 years in Massachusetts. I also owned and operated a pawn shop down there. Seven years ago, I decided to move to Maine. The Oxford Hills just has that laid-back feel that lends to a vibe that makes people want to go antique shopping. (Norway) is pretty old and has its history, which also lends to that laid-back, comfortable vibe.

A few years ago, I decided to open up on Main Street. At first, I ran Vintiques out of a space near Goin’ Postal, but last year, I outgrew the space and moved to where I am now, at 312 Main St.

What are your favorite types of antiques? How do you find the antiques and vintage items that you display at the store? I personally like mechanical-type stuff: old typewriters, turnstile phonographs, those types of things. That’s more to my liking, but I’ll buy basically anything other than furniture or glassware. I’m not really looking for 17th-century highboy dressers. That’s not really my style.

We used to focus on primarily antiques and vintage items, but we’ve expanded to take more things at the store. We’re taking a lot more modern items. We really do have anything you could ever want here.

As for where I find the antiques, I get a lot of them by going “treasure hunting.” We’ve all seen the show “American Pickers.” Treasure hunting is similar to that. People invite us into their homes, businesses or storage units and let us go through their stuff and pick out items we like. We also go to local auctions and yard sales, garage sales and flea markets. Those are all good places to look for stuff.

We also rely on social media a lot. We get tips quite often on where to find “treasure.”

Your store is one of many antique or vintage item stores in the Oxford Hills. Do you find a healthy amount of competition exists or do you find yourselves working together at times? First off, Vintiques is just one of three stores that sells antiques on Main Street. There’s also Widdershins antique store at 329 Main St. and Food for Thought books and records on 446 Main St.

I think it’s important for the three of us to work well together. There are so many options in this area for antique shoppers to go and buy stuff. Route 26 is practically antique alley. There are probably four or five group shops down there, and they are large ones. It’s nice to have us three on Main Street because we can pull a small portion of those people from Route 26 to Norway. It helps us out to work together, because we can send business to each other if one of us doesn’t have something. For instance, Widdershins carries a lot of different merchandise than I carry, and while I dabble in books and sell records, to be honest, Food for Thought is the place to go if you want one of those two items. It helps us stay in the market.

Where do you see Vintiques of Maine going from here? You already outgrew one space. Do you yourself expanding again? I want to continue increasing Vintiques’ online presence. Online is a huge part of running antique stores now and finding new items to sell. Right now, there’s Amazon, which 49 percent of people buy from, and eBay, which people buy from a lot, too. Facebook has their Marketplace now. Businesses have to stay relevant and be on social media. Otherwise, they’ll fade and fall by the wayside. I think that’s the reason retail stores fail: They refuse to change, and then it’s too late.

I have to say that Norway Downtown has played a huge role in drawing attention to Vintiques, Widdershins and other Main Street stores. They’ve done a great job over there pulling traffic off Route 26 and getting them into Norway. They’re always advertising and marketing what’s happening on Main Street.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

Eric White