Meet Heather Bukovsky of Vintage Anthropology in Princeton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Bukovsky.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I got my start in this business actually by accident. I had been doing interior design work when I lived in North Carolina and that translated into having a warehouse full of used items, antiques, and extra inventory. A friend of mine owned an antique co-op mall on South Boulevard in Charlotte North Carolina and invited me to open a booth there. I thought it would be a wonderful way to be able to move along some unwanted merchandise for myself and my clients. From the moment I started, I was completely hooked. I enjoyed coming out weekly to bring new items to my space as items sold and always looked forward to that phone call from the mall owner letting me know that a large item was purchased and picked up. It became almost like high! My husband Stephen, has always been interested in Antiques and would antique on the weekends. When we would come back to New England, we would frequently stay at bed and breakfasts and we go antiquing on the weekends. We would always talk about what it would be like if we opened our own group shop. He always had a vision for what his own shop would look like if he were ever to own one.

In 2009, Scholastic book fairs, the company he worked for over 16 years decided to start downsizing. Unfortunately, his job three years later was one of the jobs they decided to downsize. Faced with the unsurity of what he wanted to do next, I encouraged him to start his own business and open our own store. As scary as it was, we took a small location on Main Street in Sterling, Massachusetts and opened our first store. We quickly outgrew that store and were looking for a larger location. We met our current landlord through that shop and found that he had a beautiful 6000 square-foot building, once the largest auto museum in the world in 1939, available for rent in Princeton Massachusetts. I joke now that when my husband brought that up to me, I said Princeton? Where the heck is Princeton. “He said, trust me, this is a perfect location, it’s only 20 minutes from Worcester, 15 minutes from Leominster and Fitchburg and only 42 miles from Boston and we are going to have an amazing store,” I said OK, I’ve trusted you our entire marriage and I trust you now, so let’s do it! A year later, we had opened Hunt and Gather Vintage Market which has become a huge success. The store grew faster and bigger than we could’ve ever hoped. We absolutely love our store, it is our baby.

Having the group shop now allows us to meet so many wonderful people through which I meet a lot of my design clients. It is absolutely the most fun job, it’s a job I actually enjoy going every single day. People ask us all the time why we don’t have employees and why we are always there. Our answer is simple, this is our baby we love this place and we truly enjoy what we do and we can’t imagine not being here every single day. Even on our days off, we are at the shop working, LOL. We know all of our customers by their first names, we’ve learned their styles, what they like and what they don’t like. We know about their families, their happy times and their sad ones. These people have become like family as have our vendors in the shop, they are among the best in the area. Our shop has become a hang out for local residents and we enjoy being part of the Princeton community. For my husband and I, it’s wonderful that we had been able to create a business together and we still love each other on top of all that, LOL.

Has it been a smooth road?
I can’t say it’s been a completely smooth road, we have had some trials and tribulations while opening the shop, primarily with our local building inspector and getting the needed permits and plans done. It forced us to have to close the store for four months while waiting for approvals. But our amazing vendors never faltered and stuck with us even though we were closed and were forced to do pop up markets in our parking lot, LOL. It all worked out in the end and we are extremely thankful for that.

We’d love to hear more about your business. What sets you apart from others?
I would have to say two things that set us apart from other places is our amazing building. We are located in A rural New England town off of Mount Wachusett. Princeton was once a bustling vacation town at the turn of the last century but soon declined and became a primarily residential town with very few businesses. The auto museum, the building which houses our fabulous store, was the largest attraction in town for about 40+ years. It’s is a beautiful town. Our building is a large brick building with exposed brick walls in some areas so it’s really different. The building houses both my design business Vintage Anthropology, and our antique and vintage group shop Hunt and Gather Vintage Market. This allows me to work with my design clients in an environment conducive to what they are looking to do. It also allows me to help the vendors in our shop as well as often my clients find what they’re looking for right here in our own store. The shop is different, very unique, very creative.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
In Boston? Absolutely. Boston is the most beautiful city on earth to me. I enjoy visiting it frequently and will find any excuse at all to go to Newbury Street, LOL. I have friends who live on Beacon Hill and the history and architecture of Boston take my breath away every time I see it. It is a beautiful place to start any business.

Coming in January 2019, Vintage Anthropology Hudson MA will open at 20 Main St unit 2 and will be an small extension of Hunt and Gather featuring Home decor, Antique, Vintage and Design Services.

Contact Info:

• Email: heather@verbayna.com
• Instagram: @vintageanthropology
• Facebook: @vintageanthropology

Image Credit:
Heather Bukovsky

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