Gather A Vintage Market in Tucson specializes in antique and vintage furniture and finds for your home and garden so we thought this outdoor scene featuring some of their items made a perfect cover. Photographer Hilary Lamb took the picture.

This unique Market is open once each month for four days from Thursday through Sunday. The upcoming Market schedule is: March 20 to 23; April 17 to 19 (closed on Easter Sunday); and May 15 to 18. Regular hours are Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Owned by Tray and Simone Gers and Grant and Melinda Gers, Gather evolved following Tray’s having booths in antique malls. A life-long collector, Tray’s collection had needed paring down when he decided to sell some things and ended up in two Tucson malls. Although he was happy with both experiences, he wanted to do more. Having visited similar venues around the country, he felt Tucson was ready for its own four-day vintage market so he rallied other vendors and launched the business in January 2013. Grant and Melinda were moving back to Tucson and were excited to collaborate in the new venture.

The Market is located at 657 W. St Mary’s Road in the old Arizona Sash & Door Warehouse with an old railroad spur that runs alongside it. The Gers loved the old galvanized tin, the exposed wood beams and rafters and the wood floor and felt it was the perfect setting for a vintage market.

At Gather all of the vendors work together to create a new shopping experience each month. Revolving around themes, merchandise is blended and each vignette includes items from multiple vendors as they work collaboratively. Every month, the store is completely redone—the floor plan is changed, new merchandise brought in and a completely new look is created. The goal is to have customers walk into a magical experience.

This is truly a family business and Tray, Simone, Grant and Melinda divide up the tasks, taking care of their own parts. Then they all come together around the fun—buying and selling—including enjoying family road trips across America hunting for treasures. They love market days, visiting with regular customers and hearing what they did with the treasures they bought in prior months.

In addition to the Gers family, Gather has 8 vendors—Dee, Elizabeth, Elaine, Linda, Betty, Bridget, Rhea and Denise. Dee and Elaine were the original owners of The Grey House Antiques in Tucson and Denise worked there. Elizabeth owned her own store in North Carolina before moving to Tucson. Linda works for a Green Valley Interior Design firm. Betty, Rhea and Bridget have, for years, loved collecting and selling antiques and collectibles.

Collectors who approach Gather when they are ready to downsize have been inspirational with their amazing collections, passion and expertise. Help along the way has come from the vendors’ creativity and business experience plus support from their Facebook family getting the word out, local media running feature stories, and bloggers like local photographer Hilary Lamb publishing fantastic features and photo essays.

The Gers love what they do, all of the treasures they find, and the fun and joy they bring to people who come to the market. They enjoy watching customers’ reactions each month and hearing, “Wow! I didn’t think it could be more beautiful than last month and yet it is!” Their goal is to keep wowing customers and encouraging imaginations.

For more information, visit Gather A Vintage Market on Facebook, go to: www.gathervintagemarket.com/, call 520-310-7531 or email: gatheravintagemarket@gmail.com.

Hilary Lamb, Photographer

Photographer Hilary Lamb told us, “I am a natural light photographer residing in Sahuarita, Arizona, with the loves of my life: my husband, son and our two dogs. As a transplant from the lush green landscape of the East Coast, I’ve adjusted to living in the desert by learning to notice and appreciate the subtle beauty of a seemingly stark landscape. This ability to find beauty in the most simple and seemingly commonplace things has filtered to all areas of my life and has become the goal of my photography. I have also discovered a love of both the history and aesthetic charm of all things vintage.

“These two perspectives serve as the inspiration behind bringing together the contrast of the ornate details and texture of the expert craftsmanship displayed in the items with the delicate pastels and light of the native foliage.”

You can follow Hilary at http://hilarylambphoto.blogspot.com and also on facebook, instagram and pinterest. She can be reached at hilarylambphoto@gmail.com.