Christmas is only two months away, and Karen Logan of Uptown Marketplace is expecting business to pick up with the changing of the seasons.
“Even when we were at the old location, you always saw a big increase around the holidays,” she said. “We opened in the middle of the holiday season last year, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens this year since we’ve been around longer.”
Logan started out selling dolls and doll accessories in a prior location for Uptown Marketplace, which was called Southern Charm. When the prior location was filled to the brim with items and in desperate need of repairs, the store’s ownership changed hands and was moved to its new home at 3830 Washington Rd. Suite 15. That was Dec. 4, 2020.
“It’s a mixture of a little bit of everything,” Logan said. “We want to do anything and everything. The furniture and decor, yes, but also items for gifts. It’s big enough here to have it all and also change things when we like to.”
The new location is double the size of the prior location, and Logan has had some dealers with her for years. There’s a waiting list for potential vendors to try to grab a booth inside Uptown Marketplace.
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When Riverfront Antique Mall closed a few months ago, some of its vendors found a new home at Uptown, too.
The move to the Washington Road location has been a boon for their exposure, Logan said.
“It’s going well and customers are coming in and loving it,” she said. “It’s amazing how much better people like it here. When people come and bring their family, we have something for everybody. Everyone can find something they like and we take feedback on how well some things sell and what’s not doing as well.”
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A quick walk through the booths at Uptown will offer options of all types of furniture and decor, Masters memorabilia, vintage clothing, curios and more.
“That’s the nice thing about the booths,” Logan said. “The vendors come in and do a lot of the work for us. And the customers like talking with them and having more of that personal relationship you won’t get when you walk into a big chain store.”
Logan said many of her vendors are retirees, folks that have a full-time job and curate their items as side gig, or spouses that don’t have a full-time job and gather and sell their items as their job.
“That’s the beauty of having different people. If I bought everything, it would all look the same and be boring,” Logan said. “There are different personalities in here and it’s a lot of variety. Everybody has their own look and their own taste.”
Logan said several customers come in every week as their “therapy.” Sometimes they buy and sometimes they don’t, but they are always keen to see what changes have occurred as vendors are constantly shifting around their inventory.
“I was petrified when we opened here since it was so much bigger. There was no time for a soft opening because it was the holiday season, but it’s gone really very smoothly,” Logan said.
All the booths are full, but Logan said expanding further could be an option in the future. However, she said that for now, she’s taking it one step at a time.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
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