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TABLETOP AND GIFT/GOURMET & HOUSEWARES
Cheers!
Antique store transforms into cocktail-culture destination
Antique store transforms into cocktail-culture destination
From the lasting impact of the hit show Mad Men, to a proliferation of retro cocktail bars and supper clubs, to a growing industry of artisanal makers of bitters, spirits and barware, there’s no doubt about it: cocktail culture is here to stay.
It was a direction that Leigh Greer noticed shortly after opening her Norfolk, Va. antique store, Table 7 Antiques, five years ago. She started out specializing in vintage tabletop items from hotels, steamships,
the U.S. Navy, railroad lines, and other origins. After a chance visit to a gift market, she began adding new products to her assortment, including paper goods from Hester & Cook, which had an aesthetic
that dovetailed nicely with the retro china and silver she already carried.
The paper goods company invited her
to visit AmericasMart, and she began regularly attending the market to source items that fit with her store’s focus and sensibility, developing a product selection that was roughly half antiques, half
new items.
Evolving the concept to
fit the customer
Greer quickly realized that the sign bearing her store’s name, Table 7 Antiques, wasn’t bringing in the foot traffic she needed
to flourish. “People would walk by and think only of brown furniture,” she says.
Since the vintage martini pitchers, cocktail napkins, bar glasses and jiggers were among the hottest sellers in her store,
she decided a rebrand was in order.
She closed the store for two weeks in the fall of 2017, and when she reopened,
it was as Table & Tonic, specializing in home, bar and gifts.
“Everybody’s returning to old-school, classic cocktails like martinis and manhattans,” says Greer. She points out the spirit industry has increased 6 percent over the past year, a good barometer of
a growing movement. “And as everyone gets more comfortable with their cocktails, it’s only going to get bigger and better. What I have in my store is on trend, but it’s not trendy.”
Today the store is a source for glass barware, cocktail books, flasks, bar equipment, wine and beer accessories, cocktail kits, and more. She also stocks
consumables such as bourbon balls, jarred cherries and olives, and even bourbon- infused toothpicks. Customers can sample around 2 dozen flavored bitters and shrubs at the store’s bitters bar.
Mixing old and new
creates distinction
Now that she isn’t beholden to an identity as an antique shop, Greer finds she has the ability to expand more into other categories. Recent additions include
a jewelry line and book covers, while her bestsellers include Nest Candles and Louis Sherry chocolates.
“I’ve been able to buy things that I’ve liked for years \[but wouldn’t have been a good fit in an antique shop\],” says Greer. “But everything still has an old- school feel to it.”
The 1,200-square-foot store itself has
a retro air, thanks to its origins as a warehouse: brick walls, exposed beams, concrete floor, an enormous hanging chandelier. Goods are displayed on weathered wooden and steel furniture,
with old and new mixed together. Vintage highball glasses are displayed with flavored bitters, and rolls of wrapping paper are corralled in an old ice bucket, and old cocktail stirrers from long-shuttered restaurants might share space with bartending books. The front window of the store features an 8-foot-long table made from an old bowling alley floor. A typical >
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