Vintage style is on display at Market Hill
Regulars to central Texas’ spring and fall antiques fairs know that too much is never enough.
Accumulated stuff seems endless along the 30 milestretch of Texas 237 in Fayette County between Carmine, Round Top and Warrenton, where dedicated shoppers engage every spring and fall in a ritual search for vintage dustables from Grandma’s era, serious furniture, anything weathered, hand-crafted doodads, yard geegaws, pricey linens and textiles, funky clothes, flashy costume jewelry, cowboy boots and a gazillion quirky objects.
You’ve never seen so much stuff piled in open pastures or under tents or in tin buildings, lugged across the globe by vendors who have become as familiar as family. And now, another very big venue is tempting visitors.
Market Hill, Paul Michael Company’s sprawling 130,000-square-foot warehouse just north of Round Top, is an appealingly hybrid indooroutdoor mall where spacious air-conditioned shops with sliding metal and glass doors open onto covered breezeways. It’s a step up from weather vulnerable tents, from a company familiar to Nutcracker Market shoppers for its holiday décor.
Paul Michael opened his Round Top store at the center of Market Hill last spring, expanded to six vendors last fall and now has 18 shops. Several high-profile Round Top regulars are among them, including the Brenham antiques and gift retailer Leftovers and Indianabased couple Don and Marta Orwig, who have an eye for wonderfully eccentric finds.
A glass-walled, stateof-the-art kitchen, headed by Bastrop chef Paul Higgins, serves prix fix lunch ($15) and dinner ($30). Diners sit at pretty tables in the central breezeway. I would have been happy with just a cup of coffee and a croissant; breakfast wasn’t available when we visited last Sunday at 9 a.m., but Michael said that will come soon. He’s still working out kinks.
In the staged rooms of his own emporium, tables and chairs manufactured in Arkansas mix with appealing decorative goods sourced from around the world.
Michael’s four yearround stores (in Lafayette and Monroe, La.; Lake Village, Ark.; and Canton) focus on seasonal decorations, but he’s using the Round Top location to showcase his company’s own designs.
“We’re trying to offer something new and innovative,” he said.
He’s also hosting a store-within-a-store, filling a back corner with a display of colorful ikat pillow covers in handmade silk from wholesale importer MD Home. Shopkeeper Gunay Ugur said the company contracts with 600 home weavers in Uzbekistan, who create the cover fabric on 17- or 24-inch looms.
“It takes a day to weave 3 feet,” Ugur said. The artisans can’t work at night because Uzbekistan only has electric service for eight hours a day. The pillows are finished in Turkey.
Across the rest of Market Hill, the finds last weekend ran the gamut from small indulgences to one-of-a-kind architectural pieces.
Don Orwig knows every inch of this territory: During 28 years of working the fairs, he has kept two shops to cover his bases. He’s particular about his neighbors — he doesn’t want to be near sellers of cheap, massproduced goods.
He’s always at North Gate Hills in Warrenton, but his second space has hopped around, from the Original Round Top Antique Fair to Marburger Farm to Blue Hills, which is currently for sale. And he expects Market Hill to be the next top destination.
Market Hill opens its doors for several weeks, with hours that accommodate shoppers early and late. Admission and parking are free.
Michael believes Market Hill fills a niche. “This buying frenzy that some of these scenarios create by being open just a few days is not to my liking,” he said. “It’s always a buyers’ market.”
With 23 acres, he has room to expand, but he’s in no rush.
“I’m fairly creative but not the most organized and efficient person,” he said. “We need to see this through and get it as perfect as we can.”