Being in business means you will never make everyone happy one hundred percent of the time. I have firsthand experience with this fact because 95% of my employed life over the last 40 years has been in retail sales of some sort. I have sold everything at one time or another except for homes. Pet’s […]
Florida Today’s title – “Antiques: Don’t do more harm than good when making a repair” Over the years as a photographer, an artist, a collector and antique dealer I have seen some pretty egregious things happen to, well, things. Okay, I know I am going to have to explain that one. There are certain things […]
The antiques & collectibles market has changed a great deal in the last 7 years that Five Katz Antiques has been open. It is radically different from what the experience gained over the last 30 years of buying and selling antiques had me prepared for. Many things are collectible. The goal is to buy it […]
I am moving my blog posts/articles from our store’s site to this one in order to preserve them for future viewing. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. As many different types of antique stores, vintage shops, retro dealers and other secondhand stores as there are, there are probably […]
I decided to take a break from writing about antique related items and situations and try something new. When I am not at the store, and have some free time, I read. When I was young, and owned my bookstore, it was science fiction and classics. As I have gotten older, I find that I […]
Twenty Bucks… There is an interesting phenomenon out there. It happens to many people every day, mostly men, but they really don’t understand it or are aware of it. Some are, but with most, it happens on a near unconscious level. It’s not malicious, it just happens. What is this strange occurrence? “It was only […]
I often get calls at the store from folks who are looking to sell their items. Sometimes it’s a single item (a piece of furniture or a doll, for instance), other times it’s an entire collection. I never know what the next phone call will yield for the store. Many times, people will come into […]
How do small businesses create polices? It’s easy; they don’t. The customers do. I know, you are asking how that happens. Well in a nutshell, policies are created when something happens that’s outside of the business owner’s experience. As small business owners, we try to anticipate everything that could happen that could affect us. It’s […]
Collecting antiques can be a fun and rewarding hobby on many levels. It doesn’t have to be a hobby that breaks the bank. Not all antiques belong in the British Museum or have to cost as much as the Hope Diamond & there is much more to the hobby than buying low and selling high. […]
I have noticed lately that some small businesses are offering a discount if you pay with cash. It got me thinking and wondering if this was really a good idea. Credit card fees can be expensive. No one wants to pay them. They are yet another expense that a small business has to deal with […]