“I worked for 20 years in school administration, but I’ve always loved antiques, and as my boys got older, I opened up my own booth while I traveled across the US and Canada helping schools grow. But I was also the primary caretaker for my parents, and I was working in New Mexico when both of them went into the hospital.

That’s when I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. This season of my life is to take care of my parents.’

So I left my job and opened up Vintage Green eight years ago. Having my own antique store was always on my bucket list, but it also allowed me to live my dream while being the daughter my parents needed. I am blessed with Carter, Mary, and Kim who step up to take care of the store at times like when I moved my parents into assisted living and had to be gone for a month. My mom passed away last year, but I still take care of my dad.

Behind me is Kim’s wall, who usually works here on Fridays. She takes all these original materials and then she handpaints on them. The rest of Vintage Green is authentic antique: nothing comes from overseas or out of a catalog. I try to stick to things in the cottage farmhouse style because that’s what I like. This space is only 742 square feet, so I tried to sell EVERYTHING, it would just be such a mess, so I’m intentional about having a similar color palette, a similar style, and making sure everything flows well.

I source all the items myself…and that’s the best part! I go all over Michigan every Friday with my dad, and we’ve spent Fridays together that way for the last 15 years.

Buying local is buying into someone’s dream. When I see customers coming out of businesses here in Grand Haven, I think ‘That’s Jeremy’s dream’ or ‘That’s Susie’s dream’ because I know that living those dreams isn’t easy. There are constant questions like, can I afford to stay open? What if nobody comes in to buy anything? What if nobody likes what I’m selling?

But one thing I love about Grand Haven is that the business owners are a community within the community. We help each other. For example, last summer, two days before my biggest event of the year, Flea on Seventh, my dad had a stroke. Jenny sent a text to the entire group of business owners and employees here in our neighborhood letting them know…and they cleaned the whole area! They marked all the spots! They hung all the signs! And they showed up in droves the day of the Flea and said, ‘Put us to work.’ It was amazing.

Or Chris Weaver, who owns JW’s Food & Spirits across the street, is closed every Sunday of the year, no matter what. But when I told her that the 4000 people who come through here during Flea on Seventh needed to eat, she said, ‘I’ll open so your people can eat!’

Things like that happen because of relationships, because people care about you, and here in Grand Haven, those relationships extend beyond just businesses.

A couple years ago, when the government went on strike, Coast Guard employees weren’t getting paid and the community knew we had to help. I can’t tell you all the restaurants here who said that Coast Guard families could eat for free. People bought diapers and kitchen supplies and gave cash. The community donated so much stuff to our Coast Guard station that they were actually distributing it to other Coast Guard stations. It was unbelievable. We do the Coast Guard Festival every year, but it was amazing to see that when the rubber hit the road, the community wasn’t just saying, ‘Well, we’ll have a prayer for you in August’, but was overflowing with acts of love.

It was incredible, and one of the many reasons I love Grand Haven.”