Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Isaacks.
Melissa, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
First and foremost, my husband and I are collectors. We love antiques. We love vintage collectibles. Basically, we love old junk. The development of TX Art and Salvage was never an actual plan. It was just the natural progression of things. I literally want to save every vintage item I come across, regardless of the condition it is in. My husband has a background in fine art and works for a civil engineering firm. You put the two of us together and TX Art and Salvage was bound to happen. Our goal became pretty clear, save as many vintage items from landfills as we possibly can. Reclaim – Repurpose – Recycle.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Well, that is a two-sided question. The aspect of saving vintage items is as smooth as butter since we simply live for it. There is a real sense of joy I get every time someone takes an item home and I know it is getting the appreciation it deserves. The business aspect of things, not quite as smooth. Our goal was to save vintage items from landfills, not understand how to fill out quarterly sales tax forms. Unfortunately, the two go hand in hand now.
Please tell us about Texas Art and Salvage.
Our business model is pretty simple. We try to take undesirable vintage items and bring them back into a state of being desirable. We source items from estate sales, garage sales, auctions, side of the road junk piles, actual junkyards, and occasionally people donate items to the cause. We have absolutely no interest in buying nice antiques and flipping them for a profit, plenty of people are doing that already. Our goal is to bring well-built disregarded vintage items back from the brink of being destroyed.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
In hindsight, we probably should have considered the business side of things a bit more than we did in the start. My husband and I set out to salvage and reclaim all the vintage items we could get our hands-on. We figured we’d sort out the business aspect of things along the way. Websites, business licensing, advertising, finances, the list goes on. Like I said in the start, we never really had a business plan, TX Art and Salvage was just the natural progression of doing what we love. It might have been a good idea to layout an actual business plan, but then again, that might have kept us from doing this at all.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.txartandsalvage.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/TexasArtandSalvage/
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