In 2015, Michael Turcotte opened a small, first location for his antique and collectible business, Vintage Games ‘N Junque, the subject of this week’s Mid-Week Mugging.
“It was on Wellington Street West. It was 400 square feet. To us, that was huge, but financially we weren’t sure what would happen, but it worked out well because we had a pretty consistent customer base. So after a year we moved to Bruce Street with an 800 square feet space, and then this 3,500 square feet space came up in June, 2017.”
With that kind of growth, it’s clear the Sault has many lovers of vintage items.
“It’s humbling. The Sault’s been good to us. We have really loyal customers. If it wasn’t for our customers we wouldn’t be here,” Turcotte said.
One might assume Vintage Games ‘N Junque’s customers would consist of seniors from the Sault’s aging demographic.
But, that’s not the case, Turcotte said.
“Our customers are very diverse. We could have people in their 50s or 60s looking for that perfect flower stand, but at the same time, we have really cool hipsters looking for other things. It’s great.”
“If a family comes in, the husband’s looking at the coin collections for sale, the wife’s buying antiques and the little kids are looking at the video games. There’s something for everyone, and that’s really cool when you see that mixture.”
“I love everything in here. That’s why I bought it, that’s why I tell people this is my own man cave. But to sell things in a store like this, you can’t get sentimentally attached to anything. When something sells, I just find something else and put it on the shelf in its place, because I do enjoy seeing people get these things,” said Turcotte, who buys his merchandise at trade shows in other communities such as Toronto and through buying, selling and trading items with Saultites.
“We carry a little bit of everything. I would say the store is about 60 per cent antiques, 10 per cent coins, then the rest is collectibles, vintage toys and vintage games.”
“We easily have the largest vintage video game collection in the Sault and we try to maintain that by buying them when we travel, but at the same time when we travel we buy a lot of antiques. I grew up in antiques, and my wife really loves antiques and that was something we had in common which just grew and grew and grew into what it is now.”
So how many items, approximately, does Turcotte have for sale at Vintage Games ‘N Junque?
“Oh, wow!” Turcotte exclaimed.
To put it into perspective, Turcotte said, “We own two stores and have storage locations. This store is about 3,500 square feet and I could probably fill it about 10 times. I have a pretty endless supply at this point and I’m buying more all the time,” said Turcotte, who also owns Stuff Antiques, a vintage store at 288 Korah Rd.
“I bought (Stuff) full, with everything in it.”
In addition, Paul Muncaster, owner/operator of The Rad Zone, operates a smaller, second Rad Zone outlet at Vintage Games ‘N Junque.
Turcotte, an Alberta native, moved to the Sault in 2001, met his wife Beth Davison and settled down here.
“I love the Sault. I have no intention of ever moving away,” Turcotte said.
To emphasize his connection with his adopted hometown, Turcotte and wife Beth organized this year’s inaugural Steel City Nerdcon 2018, in which 31 video game, toy and comic book vendors from the Sault and other communities sold their merchandise Sept. 29 in a garage space behind their store.
“It got a good local buzz,” Turcotte said.
“We’ll have the second event, called ‘Steel City Nerdcon and Nostalgia,’ and it’s going to be bigger. We have the Bushplane Museum booked for it Sept. 28, 2019. We fit 31 vendors in this year and we’ll have 50 vendors next time.”
“We want to have some video game vendors of course, some local and non-local artists, people who do crafts and have vintage toys, but we want to bring collectible vendors in, vintage signs,” Turcotte emphasized.
“We want to appeal to a larger demographic, and we don’t want it to be just the same as last year. We want to bring in a celebrity and get good, local sponsors.”
“This is my passion. This is something my wife Beth and I enjoy doing. Most people, I think, want to do what they love, and this is what I love. My father owned two antique stores when I was a kid, and growing up it was something I always wanted to do. My wife and I took the leap and it panned out.”
“Yeah, man,” Turcotte enthused. “As long as we keep trying to make it work, that’s all that matters.”