Reportage with antique shop owner

How do you describe your job?

Excellent, thrilling. I love it.

What is the hardest point of your job?

The hardest point of my job is when people don’t appreciate antiques. For them, it’s just an old object, so they throw it away. The hardest one and I don’t like it but it’s what it is.

How do you describe your salary?

It’s decent. We can survive with it, we can live. Too bad, it’s nothing compared to Belgrade, or Sofia. A lot of people are coming back because of the pandemic or because of the economic situation, but still, we can survive.

How do you buy antiques and from who?

Most of the people have antiques at home which belongs to grandparents or parents, and the sellers don’t like it anymore, so they come to offer to me. They said I got this, I got that sometimes even they have a photo of the objects. Most often, I interact with this kind of person. Sometimes, I meet also collectors who want to get rid of their collection.

Why people buy antiques?

To be honest with you, there are many different reasons. Most of them are people who like and know what they purchase, but sometimes people buy just because it’s interesting. They want to have something from Skopje, from Macedonia.

Are there any educational requirements about the job?

First and foremost, the point is to like it. To love it. And investing in books, reference books, and catalogs because there is no college or department to be antiquarian. History, archaeology could help. Love it and then invest in it for knowledge

What is the highest point of this job?

Make customers satisfied. It’s not only about giving me your money and that’s it, I don’t want to see you anymore. I’m very satisfied when the customer knows what she or he is buying and s/he is satisfied. I’m sure they are going to cherish it. Keep it somewhere, and give extra 10-20 years of life to the object.

How can a person be an antique shop owner?

This is a hard one. As I said, we have to love it, we have to have at least a little bit of knowledge of the things, or history of your country or your culture and to know what to collect and to be able to know what is collectible, what is antique and what is not.

Do you recommend this job and why?

Of course, I do recommend this job but right now this is a very hard situation. Not only here but pretty much all over the world because of the virus. And why, because it’s interesting. You can see everyday new stuff and it’s amazing.

How is your working environment?

We are okay about our working environment. The shop is not that big, I wish I could have a bigger one but it’s good. We have really good, kind customers and it makes the environment better.

Dogukan Sever Thank you for the reportage to “SCVPI” antique shop in Old Bazaar, Skopje. There are many interesting antiques in the shop for the tourists. The owner was so kind to us. Thank you for his time.