Thriftiques in Tempe Features Vintage Furniture & Home Décor

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“Thriftiques” is the perfect name for this wonderful Tempe store since it carries everything from thrift items to antiques! Its 4000 square feet are filled with vintage furniture and home décor supplied by local artisans.

Owner Julie Busskohl opened Thriftiques May 1, 2013. When Julie’s then-employer went out of business ending her full time job as an accountant, she decided it was time to open her own store and do what she loves most. She had been painting furniture and collecting treasures part time, had booths in 2 stores and participated in several local markets so the store was a natural fit for her.

Thriftiques has a wide variety of dressers, hutches, desks, tables and lots of smaller décor items. There’s a good mix of painted furniture and pieces that are in their original state. There are also jewelry, industrial items and garden pieces.

The store is a distributor of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and Fusion Mineral Paint. Miss Mustard Seed is a self-distressing paint, Fusion Mineral Paint is acrylic, self-leveling and doesn’t require a top coat. Both are great for whatever project you have and Julie is happy to walk you through the tips and techniques. They also offer custom paint projects, call for more information.

When talking about her store’s offerings, Julie notes, “Our business is different from others because of the design of the store. Most stores of this nature have their vendors set up in booths, but in our case, it is not arranged that way. At Thriftiques, everyone’s pieces are spread throughout the store so that items complementing each other can be displayed together. We also offer free delivery across the entire valley.”

She adds, “ Our success can be attributed to the vendors who are involved with the store. They play a huge part in advertising the business and we couldn’t have made it without them. “

“Having this store has been a great experience for me,” Julie says. “So many of my customers have become friends and I look forward to their visits in the store. Some customers just pop in on their lunch hour when they’re having a bad day. They say the store reminds them of home and they just want to walk around and reminisce. I’m glad they find the store a comfortable place where they can relax. I love it when they come in and comment that the store looks different every time they’re here. We get new items daily so I spend much of my time decorating.”

Julie is helped in the store by her husband Craig who works with her on the weekends and with deliveries in the evening. Her good friend, Kathy Moum, has helped along the way especially with setting things when it first opened. She helped set up freestanding doors that divide some of the vignettes, and built a dividing wall for the project pieces that were initially sold. Kathy also stepped right in to help run the store when Craig was seriously ill. She and one of the vendors, Sara Thompson, have also been a huge help in setting up and running the booth at Junk in the Trunk Market.

Thriftiques is located at 931 E. Elliot Road, #116, in Tempe at the southeast corner of Rural and Elliot. For more information call 480-820-0159, email azthriftiques@gmail.com, or visit their website at www.azthriftiques.com/. You’ll also find the store on Facebook, Foursquare and Yelp.

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