While you won’t find Courtney Shindelar screaming, “Going … going … gone to the lady in the red,” she does hold bi-weekly open book auctions at her Washington Street boutique House Wear. (Shindelar also runs Wear House, the antique shop located next door).
An open book auction works like this: Every other Tuesday (the store isn’t open on Mondays), Shindelar puts a price on a piece of furniture and places it in the window of her boutique. For instance, last week there was a 1940 Century mahogany dresser priced at $150. Over the course of the next 13 days, customers can make a bid on the piece, raising the price by increments of $10. On the following Sunday, at noon on the dot, the piece is sold to the highest bidder. If more than one person shows up, then it becomes a live auction.
“We had an arm chair once that probably 10 people bid on,” Shindelar said last Friday morning. “It’s fun, it’s kind of like a game.”
Born and raised in Pittstown, N.J., Shindelar, who is strikingly pert and personable, has always been interested in antiques.
“My mom has been an avid antique collector,” she said. “She was always going to auctions and garage sales. So it was always something I was interested in.”
Shindelar came across House Wear two years ago, while she was working as an assistant staff director at Lucent Technologies in Basking Ridge. “I had just moved to Hoboken,” she said. “And I came in here and I just fell in love with the store so I asked if they needed any help.” Shindelar began working at the store part time, on weekends and weeknights. “I always wanted to open up [an antique store],” she said. “So I was educating myself on a skill that I wanted.” In February, Shindelar left Lucent Technologies and began running the store full time. Along with antique furniture, House Wear peddles vintage glass wear, decorative pillows, aromatherapy candles, baby clothes, bathroom accessories, area rugs and other assorted knick-knacks.
To stock the store, Shindelar takes road trips with her mother to auctions and garage sales in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut in search of antique treasures. She also keeps a customer “wish list.” For instance, if a customer wants a five-drawer Victorian dresser, she’ll go out and look for it.
Occasionally Shindelar, whose favorite period is currently Danish Modern – “I like clean, strong pieces,” she explained – will experience an Antique Road Show-moment, when she’ll come across a piece that is worth way more than the price being asked.
“We’ll go to an auction and be like, ‘Oh!'” she explained. “But there are 20 other people who also know what it’s worth.” To maintain good karma, Shindelar said she doesn’t like to exploit those opportunities. “I feel like, if I get a piece at a moderate price then I should price it moderately – we should all share in the good fortune.”
House Wear is located at 628 Washington St., Hoboken. The shop is open Tuesdays through Sundays. For more information call 659-6009.