These days, few business owners are proudly anti-technology, but Dora Connolly is one of them.
So it's only appropriate that she owns the Antiques Folly antiques store at 20 E. Main Street in Emmitsburg.
Technology and the Internet, namely websites such as eBay, have "decimated the antiques industry," Connolly said. "When people used to go antiquing, you would come out here and have a day's outing."
Connolly, 71, has been in the antiques business ever since she was a child; her mother owned an antique store at their family farm near Gettysburg, Pa.
"I started at 4 years old, opening the door when someone came up the driveway," she said.
Connolly opened her own store 21 years ago in New Market but decided she wanted to downsize after 13 years. She initially looked at spots in Pennsylvania but couldn't bring herself to switch states.
She was driving back from Gettysburg one day and noticed the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Thinking this would be a draw for customers, she set up shop in downtown Emmitsburg eight years ago.
While the shop does see some traffic, the bulk of her sales are done at the nearly 20 antique shows she attends every year, Connolly said. These include shows in New York City, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, New Oxford, Pa., and Gettysburg.
She also has two booths at the antique mall, 17 On the Square in Gettysburg, which sees good foot traffic, she said.
When it comes to keeping her actual storefront open, Connolly said she does so because "it gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning."
Most of her store's business is from tourists rather than Emmitsburg residents, Connolly said. The tourists could be heading up to Gettysburg or to Liberty Mountain Resort in Abbottstown, Pa.
"The mom is letting kids off to ski and she comes and antiques," Connolly said.
A full-time public relations person promoting businesses for the town of Emmitsburg could help boost slow sales for all local businesses, she said, adding that the planned restoration of the town square will be beneficial.
"I hope they take the square from being dilapidated to delightful," she said. "I would love to be so busy that I could hire a young person."
"The thrill of the hunt" for new items keeps her antiquing, Connolly said. She looks everywhere from high-end auctions to thrift stores to yard sales, in addition to networking with other local antique stores.
Her personal favorite antiques include anything related to "Gone With the Wind" and King Charles spaniels. Her own King Charles, Winston Churchill, is always right beside her at the shop.
One of her personal favorite pieces in the shop is a portrait of 18th century French painter Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, which she bought from Alex Cooper Auctioneers in Towson. This portrait is on sale for about $1,880.
Top sellers, Connolly said, tend to be smaller, collectible items such as pins.
"People just want a little thing they can take home," she said.
Regardless of where the antiques industry is headed, Connolly doesn't see herself leaving it any time soon.
"I like meeting people and talking to people," she said. "I don't know any antiques dealer that has Alzheimer's."
Source: www.fredericknewspost.com
So it's only appropriate that she owns the Antiques Folly antiques store at 20 E. Main Street in Emmitsburg.
Technology and the Internet, namely websites such as eBay, have "decimated the antiques industry," Connolly said. "When people used to go antiquing, you would come out here and have a day's outing."
Connolly, 71, has been in the antiques business ever since she was a child; her mother owned an antique store at their family farm near Gettysburg, Pa.
"I started at 4 years old, opening the door when someone came up the driveway," she said.
Connolly opened her own store 21 years ago in New Market but decided she wanted to downsize after 13 years. She initially looked at spots in Pennsylvania but couldn't bring herself to switch states.
She was driving back from Gettysburg one day and noticed the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Thinking this would be a draw for customers, she set up shop in downtown Emmitsburg eight years ago.
While the shop does see some traffic, the bulk of her sales are done at the nearly 20 antique shows she attends every year, Connolly said. These include shows in New York City, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, New Oxford, Pa., and Gettysburg.
She also has two booths at the antique mall, 17 On the Square in Gettysburg, which sees good foot traffic, she said.
When it comes to keeping her actual storefront open, Connolly said she does so because "it gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning."
Most of her store's business is from tourists rather than Emmitsburg residents, Connolly said. The tourists could be heading up to Gettysburg or to Liberty Mountain Resort in Abbottstown, Pa.
"The mom is letting kids off to ski and she comes and antiques," Connolly said.
A full-time public relations person promoting businesses for the town of Emmitsburg could help boost slow sales for all local businesses, she said, adding that the planned restoration of the town square will be beneficial.
"I hope they take the square from being dilapidated to delightful," she said. "I would love to be so busy that I could hire a young person."
"The thrill of the hunt" for new items keeps her antiquing, Connolly said. She looks everywhere from high-end auctions to thrift stores to yard sales, in addition to networking with other local antique stores.
Her personal favorite antiques include anything related to "Gone With the Wind" and King Charles spaniels. Her own King Charles, Winston Churchill, is always right beside her at the shop.
One of her personal favorite pieces in the shop is a portrait of 18th century French painter Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, which she bought from Alex Cooper Auctioneers in Towson. This portrait is on sale for about $1,880.
Top sellers, Connolly said, tend to be smaller, collectible items such as pins.
"People just want a little thing they can take home," she said.
Regardless of where the antiques industry is headed, Connolly doesn't see herself leaving it any time soon.
"I like meeting people and talking to people," she said. "I don't know any antiques dealer that has Alzheimer's."
Source: www.fredericknewspost.com