About Vintage Max
I don’t recall exactly when or how I came up with the idea for Vintage Max, but I know the idea lived on a sticky note next to my computer for a long time as “bookshop cafe with vintage stuff,” and then, “And chocolate,” was hastily scribbled on the bottom of the note at some point. I guess it was just one of those random thoughts about some of my favorite things put together into one place… books, bric-a-brac, thrifted antiques, lovely little gifts. Fancy chocolates! The things that draw me into little stores when I’m traveling, or just looking to do some retail therapy. If “My Favorite Things” was a store, Vintage Max would be it, for me. And yes, tea kettles, mittens, and brown paper packages wrapped up with string are definitely in our product catalog.
Anyway, after I wrote the sticky note, I didn’t think about Vintage Max for a long while. It gathered dust, and eventually the adhesive failed. It fell into a pile of similarly aged sticky notes living underneath my computer monitor.
My husband Tim and I sat down for a breakfast-business date several months later to flesh out an idea for a totally different venture, and Vintage Max popped into my head again. As we talked it out, it started to make the most sense to put this venture first; we felt our concept was unique, competition in the area is low, it wasn’t quite as seasonal as our other idea, and it gave both of us a creative outlet (for Tim’s carpentry and my love of maximalism, books, and collectibles). Within a short period of time, we had a business plan ready to go! We’ve flirted with a few business ideas over the years, but this was the first time a business plan really instantly clicked for us – and I think that’s a testament of how right a move this was. It’s noticeably different when the energy is there.
Starting a Business in Bellevue
Vintage Max nearly opened in a trailer as a mobile pop-up shop instead of a brick-and-mortar! We planned to create a pop-up shop and someday upgrade to a brick-and-mortar location when the right spot opened up; we didn’t see the perfect spot when we looked at our own community at first so that permanent location was kind of the 5-year plan/dream. Just as we took delivery of the pop-up shop trailer, though, the cosmos started to align to our bigger picture, and we were able to jump on the opportunity to lease the corner unit at Lincoln and Balph. Now that we’re jumping ahead to the brick-and-mortar stage, our updated long-term vision for Vintage Max is a brick-and-mortar location that we own that can also double as a full-service cafe. A book bar, if you will. In any case, our growth plans include sticking to Bellevue.
About Bellevue… I had a feeling that a corner bookstore here was going to be a hit, but I didn’t expect the positive buzz to be so big, or so immediate! Bellevue is E-X-C-I-T-E-D about this, and we’re over the moon excited in kind to bring an asset to the community. Not just a business, but something the community really wants to love just as much as we do. We’ve connected with so many members of the community in the past few weeks, and the enthusiasm is palpable. Bellevue just exceeds all expectations in the most wonderful ways.
Starting a business in Bellevue is a priority for us, and not just because we like our own neighborhood. We lost our Bellevue home in a fire a few years ago, and this town as a whole was incredibly supportive of us as we rebuilt, to the degree that Tim and I swore to one another that we’d do whatever we could to repay all of those acts of kindness we were shown on one of the worst days of our lives. It’s been almost five years since the fire, and we’re still meeting people in the neighborhood who are wanting to know if we’re okay, and how things are going with the rebuild. So to that end, adding to the community economy in a meaningful way is just another part of our pact to pay forward the incredible degree of kindness that this community showed us over the years.
We’re honored to be a part of the Bellevue business community, and we hope what we add to Lincoln Avenue does wonderful things for the place we call home.