If You Don’t Buy, You Die (Why We’re Busy at Christmas and into January)
If You Don’t Buy, You Die (Why We’re Busy at Christmas and into January)
There’s an old saying in the antiques trade: if you don’t buy, you die. It sounds dramatic, but like most good trade expressions, it’s painfully true.
While many people imagine antiques dealers shutting up shop, eating mince pies, and waiting for spring, we do quite the opposite. We buy. Constantly.
Fresh stock arrived on Christmas Eve. More came in the day after Boxing Day. And then again the next day. And the next. Right through the Christmas period and straight into the New Year. Buying doesn’t stop just because the turkey’s still in the fridge.
That’s why we’re busy in January. It isn’t luck, and it isn’t magic — it’s because we never stop feeding the machine. No buying means no new stock. No new stock means bored customers. And bored customers go elsewhere.
The quiet dealers are usually the ones who stopped buying in December. We didn’t. And it shows.
So if you see us looking cheerful but slightly exhausted in January, now you know why. The rule still applies — especially at Christmas: if you don’t buy, you really do die.
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