QUECHEE — When Mick Maguire bought the Antiques Collaborative at Waterman Hill last year he envisioned revamping the store.

His goals were to reorient the Quechee business to adjust to the changing marketplace and customer demographics of the antiques business.

Dealers were once the majority of the customers for antique stores, but the market today sees a more casual, retail clientele, Maguire said.

“The business has changed enormously with the internet,” Maguire said during an interview at his store, which he renamed B.F. Southgate. “There used to be an antiques store on just about every corner in Vermont. Now, most people who are looking for antiques will start online at places like Facebook Marketplace or eBay.”

B.F. Southgate is the namesake of the 19th century industrialist who designed the Bridgewater Mill, Maguire said. And while the B.F. stands for Benjamin Franklin, Maguire said he likes to say it means, “Best Finds.”

Having two antique stores a short distance from each other — Vermont Antiques Mall is located less than 2 miles east of Maguire’s store — is a rarity, he said. “They are pretty scarce today.”

Thirty years ago, the market was 80% dealers coming in and looking for items to put in their dealer space, but no longer, Maguire said.

“Now it is 80% general retail people, wandering in, maybe on vacation in the area, skiing or just driving through and are looking for neat things,” Maguire, 59, said. “We still get hardcore collectors coming in, but most are looking for that shopping experience.”

The three-story building at the corner of Route 4 and Waterman Hill Road was an old farmhouse converted to a mall in the 1980s. When the mall failed after about five years the owners turned it into an antiques store and later sold it to Bill and Isabelle Bradley who owned it for 30 years before selling it to Maguire.

Maguire, a longtime Tunbridge resident, had a career in IT management and consulting before joining glass and pottery maker Simon Pearce in 2019. It was around that time he developed an interest in antiques and became a dealer, renting space in Antiques Collaborative. Looking to pursue that interest further, Maguire said he thought about opening his own location but instead began discussing a partnership with the Bradleys.

“After about six months of discussions back and forth, they agreed to sell to me,” Maguire said. The closing was early last summer.

“We have completely made over the place. Largely the public area,” Maguire said, referring to the area of the store not rented to dealers. “We have also encouraged dealers to move around, to expand, to merchandise slightly differently.”

Maguire said antiques are generally classified at 100 years old or more with vintage items between 50 and 75 years old. One room in the front on the first floor offers items from the modern period, which is 30 to 50 years old. B.F. Southgate has about 28 dealers who occupy the second floor and some space on the other two floors.

The number of items in the 10,000-square-foot space likely exceeds 100,000. They include, but certainly are not limited to, tools, carpets, paintings, glassware, pottery, furniture, toys, books, ceramics and some unique one-of-kind pieces including an antique, and completely refurbished, sausage stuffer and fruit press made by a Philadelphia company. There is also a functioning 1930s time clock used by Maguire’s four part-time employees to punch in and out from their work day. For those with a nautical interest, a model of the HMS Victory, a 104-gun ship launched by the Royal Navy in 1765, is displayed in a glass case,

Everything is laid out neatly with tags that give a description and price. Paintings might include a lengthy explanation of the artist and his or her life. With many customers seeking that “shopping experience,” Maguire said he wanted an appearance that welcomed the more casual patron.

“The market is shifting more toward vintage and more toward interior design so I thought, let’s embrace that,” Maguire said. “That is part of how I designed it, so it is less of an antiques warehouse and more like ‘there is cool stuff here I might want in my home.’ So it is more of an interior design space now.”

After nearly a year in business, Maguire is pleased with the results.

“Every single month (of sales) has exceeded the same month from 2021,” Maguire said. “We sold as much in dollar terms the last six months of last year then all of 2021.” (He chose that year for comparison because it had the highest sales in the three years coming out of the worst of the COVID pandemic).

“We have been selling stuff that sat for 15 years. So to me, it has been successful.”

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.