Nantiquez Vintage Flair
Lancaster Boulevard is a small strip of paradise to the city’s inhabitants, especially to teens. The street is chock full of diverse shops ranging from restaurants to boutiques, vinyl stores to an art museum.
One of these shops is Nantiquez Vintage Flare. It’s a little storefront known for its teal-blue exterior and constantly-changing store window. The store has been run and owned by Nanette Rushing for three years, first opening on Septemeber 11, 2015.
“I got inspired when I went to Austin, Texas, to visit a really good friend of mine,” she says. “I met this woman who had an old antique store. I loved the store, loved her. She was very eccentric, and I thought, ‘I’m gonna do this one day.’”
Nanette, now 55, started collecting vintage and antique items since she was about 12. What’s the difference? According to Nanette, vintage items are items from thirty or more years ago, whereas antiques are from at least one hundred years ago.
Nanette began as a vendor at other people’s stores, even working for six years at a store just down the street. Then, when an unexpected fire opened up a storefront on the Boulevard, she decided to start her own.
Many of the items in Nanette’s store are ones she collected personally from her experience staging estate sales. The majority of these items come from the Eastern United States and Texas, although she did once purchase items from Southern America during a visit to see her son. Nanette restocks her inventory about once a year.
“I have so much inventory, I could open a second store,” Nanette says. But, even with her large inventory, Nanette maintains high standards for her store. “I make sure all my clothes are dry cleaned, pressed, fixed, and overall near perfect.”
A lot of her items are studio pieces that come to her through a friend who works at Disney. When a show closes, many set designers want to sell their pieces immediately. And many of those pieces end up in Nantiquez.
Nanette isn’t the only one working the store. She has help from her best friend, a Lancaster native named Mickey who volunteers his time there. “He’s my right-hand-man,” explains Nanette. “Mickey comes every day. He loves it and I love it, and I’m very thankful. He knows how I like things in here. When I leave, I know it’s in good hands.”
Mickey used to work as an interior designer. “Assistant interior designer,” he jokes. “I wasn’t good enough to be the head.” He’s also a miniaturist.
You can see old pictures of Mickey on Nanette’s wall of memories, located in the back of the shop. It also features old pictures of Lancaster, along with photographs of the various stars who have lived her.
“I get bored easily, and I don’t want the customers to be bored either,” Nanette says. “I have repeat customers and they’ll come in and say ‘Well what did you do different today?’ because I’m always changing things up.”
This is most evident in her store window, which is currently decorated with an I Love Lucy theme. These themes change by the season and are often planned six months ahead of time. One of Nanette’s favorite window displays featured vintage bathing suits she accumulated.
“It was incredible,” she said. “I was sad when I had to take it down.”
If you’d like to visit the store for yourself, come by in the afternoons. Nantiquez Vintage Flair is open from 12:30 until 6:00 every day except Sundays and is located at 664 West Lancaster Blvd.
