5 minute read
Route 46 Vintage
~by Chrissy Alspaugh
Owners Wendy Reed and Tonya Ballew.
The Route 46 Vintage booth at the Brown County Antique Mall infused inspiration into so many excited shoppers’ homes and wardrobes that the eclectic wares have expanded into their own 1,100-square-foot store behind the mall.
The word vintage is loosely interpreted as clothing and lifestyle accessories created 20 or more years ago, and the little red pole barn brimming with designs from the past is open seven days a week.
“I’m not saying I don’t love walking through Target, but finding one-of-a-kind pieces in a vintage store is what makes a home sing, and look different from anybody else’s,” said coowner Tonya Ballew.
The booth-turned-business seems like the inevitable outcrop of her 40-year friendship with fellow businesswoman Wendy Reed.
These decorating divas met on the street in Broadripple as the owners of completely unrelated endeavors. Ballew was running a balloon shop while Reed’s business sold clothes, jewelry, and pop culture gifts.
Ballew said their friendship that day on the sidewalk was, “Just like, ‘Hey, you look like a cool girl. Want to be friends?’” she laughed.
Their lives continued to diverge. Ballew focused on her young family and running her own interior design firm. Reed eventually opened an ice cream parlor that later became a children’s events space, all while side-gigging as a singer on the syndicated U.S. radio program The Bob & Tom Show.
But Reed said a couple key things transformed them from friends into business partners: a shared passion for vintage treasure hunting, and the fact that both women spent part of their career as sales representatives, selling and marketing manufactured products to wholesale customers.
The savvy saleswomen’s mounting stock eventually inspired them to become vintage dealers, jointly renting a booth space at an antique mall. Then another. And another.
Their combined style, meticulously showcased by Ballew’s professional designer’s eye, gave their booth space unmistakable appeal.
Reed had been running a booth at the Brown County Antique Mall for about five years when the women learned that their shared booth at another beloved antique mall was coming to an end. She approached Brown County Antique Mall owner Cheri Sumter with the idea of expanding their booth into her entire back warehouse building. Sumter said their initial meeting left her excited about the duo’s abundance of energy, ambition, and ideas. And almost immediately after their trove of vintage opened in October, “it started drawing a new crowd,” Sumter said. “When you hear ‘antique mall,’ trust me, they’re nothing you’d imagine! There are people coming to their store who have lived in Nashville their whole lives and have never visited this antique mall.”
Some of Route 46’s signature offerings stem from Reed’s passion for tiki, Western wear, Mexican pottery, and pop culture. She’s said the store also boasts the largest collection of vintage Hawaiian shirts in Indiana.
The store’s romantic, sometimes French-inspired touches are Ballew: beautiful women’s clothing, accessories, and household wares featuring velvet, lace, sequins, and satin.
“We can walk into a thrift store shopping together and hone in on completely different things,” Ballew said, beaming. “Our eye is complimentary. At this point, we just trust each other, and it all ends up working beautifully.”
Nashville textile artist Terri Jones described Route 46 Vintage as “one of a kind.”
“You’re not going to find anything like this at your usual mom and pop (store),” Jones said.
Indianapolis resident Sherri Roizen stopped by the shop after recently visiting her family in Nashville and was loosely looking for textiles for quilting. Or maybe a new pair of cowboy boots. Roizen couldn’t help stroking a beige cashmere sweater, noting the heavier weight of older cashmeres compared to those produced today. “These pieces will just last forever,” she said. “You won’t find anything like this today.”
Customers inspired by Route 46’s style can get expert advice on bringing their own decorating dreams to life, thanks to Ballew’s interior design services. She’s in the process of moving her firm from Indianapolis to Nashville.
When it comes to scoring the perfect vintage finds for the store, Reed said like all “treasure hunters,” she and Ballew love garage sales, second-hand stores, and estate sales. They even receive a surprising number of donations from others avid about vintage. Reed said she’s proud that everything they sell is finding its next life, rather than ending up in a landfill.
“More than anything,” she said, “we love when customers walk in for the first time and are completely surprised with what they find.”
Route 46 Vintage, at 3288 Indiana 46 E, is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week in January through March; hours are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. the rest of the year. The store is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Some of Route 46 Vintage’s most unique offerings can be found on Facebook and Instagram.
