A knack for bric-a-brac
SOME things in life you just can’t predict. When Vyonne de Jager spontaneously bought several pieces of old furniture and sold them on the side of the road at the Midmar Mile nearly 20 years ago, she had no idea her talent for finding bargains would eventually become her means to earning a living.
From there, and realising she had a good eye for sourcing interesting bric-a-brac, she rented the old unused garages at the Howick Hotel, clearing out junk and taking it to the dump, before setting up shop.
“Then I asked if I could buy the former staff quarters, which were unused, as well as the space I was in. The owner said yes.”
She paid for the subdivision to be done, and that was the start of bringing to life an empty street.
It was the first shop of its kind, and today, Back in Time collectables and antiques is also one of the most visited in town – and in the Howick Falls precinct.
De Jager now has various tenants renting out the rest of the shops in her unique wooden complex. Making up the interesting mix are Ingilosi Art, Aqua Monitoring/ Indezi Water, Nci Valae Africa craftshop and Eccentric Clothing.
Her extraordinary talent for ferreting out the rare, more unusual or just plain fascinating objet d’art has transformed her life. Back In Time does a roaring trade, and has also become a local gathering place for chats and social exchanges.
“I’m quite arty farty,” De Jager said candidly. Her eagle eye has served her well. The shop is rather incredible – an open courtyard is filled to bursting with interesting pieces of furniture, wood and iron pieces, galvanised this and that, even a three-wheeler cycle. Leading off the space are small showrooms, each with a vague theme: kitchenalia, furniture, books and mirrors, lamps, you name it.
Up the wooden stairs from the courtyard, and the top storey follows the same format. The wooden floor constantly creaks as a steady stream of customers browses the fascinating collections above.
The business was very much a kind of “ye olde curiosity shop”, said De Jager, the “best job in the world”.
“If you’d asked me two decades ago what I’d be doing now, I could never have predicted this,” she said.
Helping to promote the success is its location.
“I’m right on the tourist route. All of the buses and visitors come to the Howick Falls along Morling Street, where I am, so they all pass me. I love my local trade and have some great regular customers, but my stuff goes all over the world. In holiday season, people come and drop off trailers on their way to the coast, and then fill them up with items from the shop on their way back.”
Interior decorators from around the country loved the shop, she said. And despite the thousands of items in stock, nothing is not sold.
“People bring in boxes and crates of goodies, every day, that I have to unpack and look through – I buy constantly because most things move really fast. I’ve even been given animals when people are selling up and moving.”
The dogs she takes back to her small farm in Hilton and the parrot, Monty, is a major drawcard in the shop. “He’s famous. He is spoilt rotten and people come in just to visit him on weekends,” she said.
She’s particular about what she buys, but stocks everything from furniture, books, chandeliers and light fittings, old lace ballgowns and wedding dresses, silverware, teasets, antique fireplaces, china, kitchenalia. “Kitchenalia is huge. Not the rubbish, but old enamel and metal stuff – peach-peelers, mincers, coffee grinders, for instance.”
So where is it sourced from? “I grew up on a farm. I am quite happy digging behind people’s chicken runs and stables, in their lofts, pulling out old forgotten bits and pieces and spotting them for the treasures they are,” she said.
De Jager has two “incredible” women working with her. “Eila le Roux is an unbelievable saleswoman, and Jenny Naude, equally incredible and also a female Mac Gyver, who can fix anything.”
Everything in Back In Time has been bought and paid for by De Jager, who recoups her money when it’s sold. Buying it, of course, is not always a speedy matter.
“It takes untold time. Once in a home, I have to see all of their photo albums and hear how and where the goods lived their lives,” she said. “I also occasionally have to model furs and hats, and have guided tours of gardens and umpteen cups of tea before I leave.”
Best lessons learnt since opening shop? “You never stop learning – that’s the lesson in life. I’ve become more knowledgeable about stock. One of the earliest and costliest mistakes I made was selling a gorgeous pair of Minton porcelain vases for R150 each. I’d bought them from a lovely old spinster, sold them for what I thought was a good price, and later saw them in the buyer’s shop for R3 000,” said De Jager.