Viva Las Vegas!

 Sunday the 27th, we hit the open road and drove 6 hours east to Las Vegas for the semi-annual World Market Show. The World Market Center is a permanent showcase of home and gift items for buyers of home goods and retailers all over the world. Located in three large buildings just off the strip in the arts district of Vegas, one can spends days going from showroom to showroom being dazzled by blinged out lighting fixtures or shiny vinyl couches. We stuck to the more gift oriented showrooms in building C. Searching for goodies to pass onto our brides and trend watching for 2013, we found some great ideas and met awesome people! HomeArt, which you might know for their fun matchboxes, had displays made with pallets. I happen to have three pallets in the barn- guess what my next table is going to be?!
One floor has a section for crafters and vintage sales where we met a French gentleman selling Paris flea market items. Based out of San Francisco, he and his sister sell at antique shows and flea markets all over the west coast. I was able to purchase some fun stuff for our rental business including a French grain sack to recover a chair.
A dear friend of mine, Kirsten Hathcock,  was honored at an awards ceremony Sunday night and received the Future Leader Award for her designs and entrepreneur of Mod Mom Furniture. This amazing woman started building modern toy boxes in her garage after she couldn't find ones she liked and built a business up in just a few years (and a lot of hard work!). Her furniture is being sought after by celebrities and big companies now.
After spending a day at the market we spent the next hitting the local antique area of old town Las Vegas. Located around Main St. and Charleston Blvd. there are numerous vintage and antique shops. The first stop was Sin City Pickers, one of my favorites. A collective of many dealers, Sin City offers a variety of of antiques and vintage for everyone, and the prices are great! I picked up another vintage radio and collection of milk bottles for photo shoots and decorating. Next we hit Retro Vegas which specializes in mid-century modern. It's a bit pricy, but they have a great selection of lamps, ash trays and furniture. We also stopped in
JJC Clocks and Antiques, Medusa's Antiques (which has a great Tiki section in the back!) and One Man's Trash.

Mary snapping a photo for inspiration

Pallet displays

a stop at Retro Vegas!

Items from French Flea Market Booth

If you are heading to Vegas and think its only about the strip, lights, buffets and shows, think again! If you love vintage and want a fun outing, head to old town and shop around. We wanted to go to Frankie's Tiki Lounge, the Atomic Museum and more thrift shops but we ran out of time-it gives us an excuse to go back again! Vegas is not just gambling, cheap rooms and trashy casinos, their is an interesting history too! Check it out