Weekend Hunting: The Vintage Source

By Mary Clare Glover

Comments () | Published May 14, 2007

On the third weekend of every month, an old general store in Southern Maryland comes to life. Called The Vintage Source, the abandoned building-turned furniture market is run by local resident Michelle Radez, a former schoolteacher who has a knack for finding and restoring furniture and decorative pieces.

Radez travels to auctions, flea markets, and garage sales on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Virginia, and Pennsylvania looking for “funky and eclectic” pieces to fill the store every month. The result is a little bit of everything—gilded mirrors, painted dressers, upholstered wing chairs, vintage dishes and teapots, and lots more.

When I visited The Vintage Source last summer, I found an old wooden-framed window with its original glass for only $7 (the type of thing you would pay $40 for at Pottery Barn).  I turned it into a picture frame—Radez says others have used them to display art or added coat hooks to them.

For this weekend’s show, Radez has accumulated the usual collection of coffee and end tables, dressers, and glass-front bookcases. But she also has some “really cool old bowling pins and pool balls,” a six-foot mantel, a dining room table with four leaves, and two small church pews that would be perfect for a hallway or foyer.

Most of the furniture is priced between $200 and $400; decorative pieces can go for less than $10. 

The store, located in Compton, Maryland, is open on Saturday and Sunday from 8 AM to 4 PM. For the best selection, get there early on Saturday—Radez’s loyal following looks forward to the weekend all month and arrives at 8 AM sharp.

For directions, click here.