Mar 8, 2020
BATAVIA — You’ll have no problem finding the antiques when you walk through the door at Vintage, which celebrated a grand opening Saturday morning.
The Harvester Center store, co-owned by Bob Trombley and his wife, Jackie, was the scene of a ribbon-cutting which included representatives from the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. There was plenty of time for residents and customers to walk around and see what was on display.
“I’ve lived in Batavia for about nine years now. I love to antique. We’ve been selling online for quite awhile — doing that and working at the hospital in Warsaw, It just became a lot, with four kids,” Bob Trombley said in between helping customers with their purchases and getting a musician set to perform. “We decided to take a run at it ... and open this shop. We were looking for a place that felt like home.
“As soon as we walked into the Harvester building, it was very clear to us that just the historical value of it, the look of it, the feel of it, the little shops that are all across here — it just felt like we were in a city. We settled on here,” he said.
Chamber of Commerce President Tom Turnbull, who participated in the ribbon-cutting along with chamber board Chair Jennifer Zambito, joked, “I hate to admit this, but most of the stuff in here, I remember.”
“We want to welcome Bob and Vintage to Batavia. What a nice, interesting and eclectic, diverse store that we don’t have around here. It’s nice to have something new around here. We wish you all the best.”
Trombley said he wanted Vintage to be more than just a regular shop.
“We wanted to have a community base to it, so the name ‘Vintage,’ to us, is not just a shop shirt. It means that we have older stuff, new stuff. It’s a mindset to me. It’s more like it was for me in the ‘80s, growing up, being a kid and having that community here. We’re having open mic nights every Thursday, 7-9 p.m. Every Saturday, we’re having ‘Kids and Guitars,’ where parents can bring their kids in from 11 to noon. We have a whole wall of guitars. They can just play on them. They can get free lessons. We hope to be doing game nights, quilting classes, art classes, We just want a place for people to come.”
“Even if we’re not having one of those events, people can come down, sit on one of the couches, just relax,” he said.
Bob Trombley said Vintage has “almost everything for everyone.”
“We have necklaces, we have Vera Bradley ... We have guitars, we have old projectors, old books, we have lots of jewelry, we’ll call it ‘penny candy’ now — all the stuff you would find in an antique store and a five-and-dime store combined,” he said. “I’m super-excited to have this. We really love our community. We really love Batavia. We’re excited to bring a shop like this here and community events.”
The hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
By Brian Quinn, The Batavia Daily News
