If you've been reading Mr. Modtomic for about Four years you may remember this place as Neophobia. While the name and ownership have changed, the good stuff inside is still the good stuff!
This is what the place used to look like the first time I posted about it back in November of
2010. Gosh, I've been hawking wares for others for a looooong time!
The new place, Loisel Vintage Modern (I like that name!), is owned and operated by Vic
Loisel. He's an amiable chap who will entertain with anecdotes about the biz at the drop of
a hat. We talked about procurement, trying (and mostly failing) to lock down trends and the
cost of keeping a shop, for quite a while. It's a tough racket to be in. You've really got to
have a love for this stuff to pull it off in a bricks and mortar shop.
I was lucky enough to figure this out years ago. I kept my eyes open and watched as many
shops opened and closed around town (including our own, but it closed not for lack of
business acumen, but because 2/3s of its partnership moved to NOLA!). Having a
dedicated shop is much more than finding cool stuff and shifting it to happy new homes,
there's all the paperwork to deal with too. Keeping boothspace, in my humble opinion, is the
best compromise. You've got a place to stock and store your wares while you are free to be
out and about finding new treasures to flip.
On the other hand, we're very lucky that there are a few out there made of tougher stuff
than ol' thin skinned Mr. M, otherwise we'd never get to browse such a splendidly curated
selection as this. I have to admit, it was visiting shops such as this that taught me much
about what to look for and it was Vic and Neophobia in particular that started me on the
road which I now travel. Vic was (I believe) the first person I ever flipped anything to, back
when this place was Neophobia!
A LOOONG time ago I used to drive down to New Orleans every Halloween. On one of these
trips I stumbled across Neophobia. About this same time the Girlfriend and I had started
going rather casually to estate sales. By the next All Hallows Eve I had quite a stock pile of
smalls and decided to just bring some along to see if this Neophobia place might need
some. Vic purchased a few items from me and the die was cast. After that I started putting
ads on craigslist for NOLA before coming down and "took orders", filling the car with stuff
to deliver to vintage modern starved New Orleanians.
After that I realized I could be doing the same thing here at home. That snowballed into the
blog and two antique mall booths. But I still know my roots. I dragged Four chairs and a
lamp table down there with me this time. Two of the chairs are now in Vic's showroom, the
other two and the table went to craigslist scavengers who were very happy to find them. I
managed to come home with more green in my pocket than I left with!
And that, for those of you who have wondered or asked and didn't get a really good answer)
is how I got my "start" in the crazy world of vintage modern. I know this blog post was
supposed to be about Loisel Vintage Modern, but when I start writing about a subject, I
never really know where it's gonna lead! It's comforting to know that Vic is still kicking butt
down there in the Big Easy and it's undeniable that he's got amazing taste, a great eye for
the goods and can keep the ball rolling. If you are lucky enough to be in town some time,
first make sure you get you some glorious eats...then stop by and say hi to Vic. And make
sure you tell him I said hi too!
Back in the day when my daughter was a teenager, we made impromptu road trips to NOLA every month or so. We loved Neophobia! Like you, our fate was sealed long before we really got into the business.
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