With clothing, jewelry, specialty items, and more, Vintage 615 is a one-stop shop when it comes to buying gifts for Christmas or any other time of the year. The locally owned Spring Hill boutique is full of unique things owner, Margaret Ziegler, brings back from marketing trips out-of-state, as well as different hand-crafted items sold by the 24 vendors who all have their own booths.
And while the store does have an impressive inventory, that’s just one of the reasons shoppers come back again and again. The other has a lot to do with Ziegler herself. When she and her husband, Chris, bought Vintage 615 six years ago, they felt guided to the store for a purpose.
“My husband was an engineer at GM, and when he got ready to retire, we just prayed, ‘God show us what to do. And the day he turned in his retirement papers, the owner here texted me that morning and said, ‘I think I’m selling the store, and you ought to buy it.’ I just felt like it was what God wanted us to do.”
With that in mind, she set out to create a warm, positive environment with kind-hearted employees who all strive to ensure everyone who comes through the door at Vintage 615 feels valued.
“People come in for all different reasons, and I just want them to come in and not worry about what’s in the news headlines or any of that stuff,” she says. “I want them to come in and feel happy and cared for. We have rockin’ music playing; it smells good because we burn candles here, and I just want to bring people joy as they look around, whether they buy anything or not.”
However, there are plenty of items to choose from for those who want to buy. Many of them were hand-selected by Ziegler.
“I go to Atlanta maybe five or six times a year,” she says, “and I’m always looking for those heartfelt things to give to people we care about no matter what they’re going through. Whether it’s for a wedding, a new baby, a birthday, or whatever it is, I want to have something they can give somebody.”
Thanks to those frequent trips, her “stager,” the person who keeps the store looking fresh and new, usually stays pretty busy.
“It’s so funny because customers will come in and look around and say, ‘Oh, it’s changed!’” Ziegler says with a laugh. “The woman who designs the store calls it a slippery slope because I’ll buy all of this stuff, and she’ll say, ‘Now I’ve got to rearrange and change everything.’ So, you never know when you walk in here, if it’s going to be the same or different.”
There is one small section of the store that stays dedicated year-round to Spring Hill and Tennessee items for sale. For the holidays, she’s added two Spring Hill Christmas ornaments and one Tennessee ornament.
Ziegler says she’s grateful to run the store with a team of six other women, all of whom work closely together and share her same goals and mission – to be a light for others.
“Each person has their own lane, and it’s beautiful. We’re family, we love each other, we do life together, and we celebrate together.”
She says it was an answer to a prayer that brought her to Vintage 615, and the boutique has been a blessing ever since.
“When I bought this store, I wanted to have a place that would touch hearts and make a difference in the lives of other people and the community. I knew it was bigger than me.”
Vintage 615 is located at 5075 Main St, Spring Hill. For more information, visit their facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/vintage615studio
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