After Nearly 8 Years in Athens, Vic’s Vintage to Close

Vic’s Vintage, known for its large variety of vintage items including vinyl and furniture, is set to close up shop on June 1.

As reported in The Red&Black, Saucehouse Barbeque, which is the restaurant nextdoor, bought the lot and building for more parking spaces and to use the building as an event space, said owner Victor Peel, who hand picks his collection which tell a story.

“All in all, it's been a great ride having this store here. Meeting people, conversing with people telling us these stories all over the world, listening to their stories, meeting a lot of really cool people in here,” Peel said. “So things like that in my store, I’m going to miss that part.”

Vic’s Vintage first opened the shop on March 31, 2011, but Peel, also known as Vic, has been selling online on eBay when it was AuctionWeb in the 1990s. For nearly 20 years, he continues to sell items he has collected locally and overseas from his travels around the world.

As a Navy veteran, Peel traveled the world to places such as Singapore, Dubai, the Philippines, and Japan. While he lived in Japan after his retirement from the Navy, he became interested in antiques because of the country’s culture.

He bought items considered useless in Japan for cheap and flipped their value in the U.S. for a much higher price.

He needed shipping containers from how much he bought, which are on his lot. Now he must sell all his pieces at reduced prices since he has to leave the building by June 1.

Despite the physical location on 768 W. Broad St. will be no longer, Peel will sell all of his items on eBay and may even run a pop-up store due to the bulk of the furniture.

“Being a military man, we're used to things being a certain way, not so much change ... that's what I like about this place.” Peel said. “And so this is a change for me to make. And it's hard for me to let go … I grab things and like to hold things, and I am going through that transition now where you got to let go.”

Peel says the store closing is bittersweet because he will miss interacting with customers face to face but he will use his time to focus more on spending time with his family and traveling.

“I’ve been telling everyone that I’m going from Athens, Georgia to Athens, Greece on June 1 … but I’ll be back,” Peel joked.

Jacob Weinstein, a music education senior at the University of Georgia, is a collector of mid-century modern pieces and an avid customer at Vic’s Vintage. Weinstein, who collects mid-century radios, discovered the shop when he was a freshman at UGA.

“Some people might say, ‘Oh, it's a junk shop.’ Well, not really,” Weinstein said. “Every single thing in the shop Vic is picked up and it has some sort of meaning and purpose and is valuable for whatever reason.”

He has frequented Vic’s Vintage on the weekends when he has free time. The most memorable item he bought there was a Heritage Henredon dresser that he paid $400 for.

“I definitely think I really wish they could have stayed open in that location ... Because they're not just people that sell furniture,” Weinstein said. “Vic will take the time to teach you about what he has … going there is an educational experience … And so I'm going to miss that.”

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