Lynda's Antique Clothing Loft Shifting Spaces in Adams
A cascade of hat boxes in one area of the store.
After 12 years at 39 Park St., Lynda Meyer is downsizing and moving to a smaller location right above her current one.
"It is a very bright new space and I will like the privacy," Meyer said. "Women always like to change the furniture around and there is a part of me that really likes the idea of creating a new space."
The vintage clothing expert said building owner Bishop West Real Estate plans to turn her space into its new office but has offered her the new location upstairs in the same building.
This leaves Meyer with 12 years worth of antique clothing, jewelry, and other odds and ends that go back as far as 1860 and span 10 decades
"This has been a very curated accusation of 12 years which is why it is not that easy to just go 'poof,' " she said. "It can't all come with me. It is like leaving the farm and you can only take your cat."
So Meyer has a need to downsize and will be running sales. Meyer said she will hold her usual winter sale but ramp up markdowns as she gets closer to April — the month when has to move out.
She said most of her glassware will be put on the sale rack and she lamented that she may even have to part with a few of her many hat boxes.
Her entire inventory can be found on her Etsy account EvaWagenfish, named after her aunt.
This is not Meyer’s first move — in fact she has made many moves in her 20-plus years in the business.
Before her interest in antique clothing sparked, Meyer was a dancer in New York City and involved in the New York City art, fashion, and theater scene.
"I was a dancer and there was an artistic transference of interest," she said. "I know a lot of dancers who became very enraptured with costuming, fashion, acting and photography. There was a lot of that at that time in that environment."
Meyer said she eventually took a job at an antique clothing store in New York City.
"I couldn't get a job because I couldn't stand anything, besides the fact I was incompetent, but I started working there," Meyer said. "She put together a little store with old things and new things. I really loved the old things and it became, not a passion, but a compassion of mine."
She stayed there until her employer decided to make a move to Berkshire County. Meyer said she felt New York City was starting to get a little dangerous so she followed the shop to Pittsfield.
Meyer said over this time she became a student of fashion.
"When I got up here I was really immersed in antique clothing and the history of fashion," she said. "I learned how to buys things, what to look for, and how to restore clothing. Some of this clothing is 150 years old and if they aren't cleaned they can fall apart. Dry rot is the leprosy of fabric."
Meyer eventually opened up her own business in Adams, where she utilized Community Development Block Grant Funds through the town to improve the facade of her store. She said many other Park Street business did the same, however, they did not stand the test of time.
"There were a lot of new businesses but after about two years, I was one of the only ones still here," she said. "When I first got here I started out with very little money but I knew what I was looking at and what I was doing. I knew my products and I had years of experience."
Meyer attributes her success to the curious nature of her trade as well as the passion she has for fashion and vintage clothing.
"It is like being a butcher you really get to know the cuts of your meat and a really good butcher can tell you how much you need to feed a family," she said. "A really good curator can understand why things are, how to wear them, what they should look like, why they have value and how to display them."
Meyer gives lectures and actually has one scheduled this spring at the Rowe Museum. She will give a presentation on weddings from the 1850s to the 1950s.
Luckily for Adams, Bishop West Real Estate asked Meyer to continue to curate her storefront that has consistently brought life to Park Street.
"They like my windows and they don't want it to look boring with just an office," she said. "I brought my own sense of style here and people seem to like it."
Tags: antiques, moving, Park Street,
