The Brimfield Antique & Collectibles Shows in Brimfield, Mass. — just an hour’s drive east of Lee — is a time-honored tradition for regional antiques dealers and shoppers.
The event envelops downtown Brimfield along U.S. Route 20, the highway that cuts through the center of town, but it isn’t a town-sponsored event at all. Taking place for over 60 years, the market is a collection of about 20 individual business owners, or field operators, who work together to host thousands of antiques vendors each May, July, and September.
“I’d say Brimfield is the biggest antiques show in New England,” said Klia Ververidis, spokesperson for the Brimfield Show Promoters Association (BSPA). “In the ‘70s and ‘80s, when the antiques market was really booming, we saw probably 6,000 vendors. Due to market forces and people aging out of the business, the May show may see 3,000 vendors.”
In addition to her role with BSPA, Ververidis runs an auction house that maintained a presence at Hertan’s Antique Shows, a Brimfield field venue, for 12 years. Last January, she purchased the 10-acre property with hopes of expanding its vendor capacity from 250 to 350 dealers.
But all three 2020 shows were canceled as coronavirus cases mounted and state and local officials imposed restrictions on retail operations and outdoor gatherings.
“Every single field promoter suffered a loss,” Ververidis said, “but we were kicked in the gut.” Not only was she unable to collect booth rental income, she still had to pay the mortgage, high commercial property taxes, and field maintenance expenses.
This year, the Brimfield Board of Selectmen voted to allow the May market to reopen. However, 19 of Brimfield’s 21 venue owners have decided not to participate in next month’s show, citing crowd control logistics, planning delays, and other issues.
Ververidis understands the frustration that some vendors may feel, and said the decision was not made lightly. “The choice not to open was pure agony for us,” she said. “To open with just a handful of shows would be short-term gain for some but long-term loss for everyone as we would not be able to deliver that ‘Brimfield Experience.’”
“It’s quite an experience, but it’s a lot of work,” said Ned Minifie, a part-time antiques dealer based in Pittsfield. Minifie, who specializes in clocks and oriental rugs, has operated booths at antiques centers throughout the Berkshires since 1972, and has been a vendor at Brimfield’s New England Motel for eight years.
The undertaking is also costly, as vendors can pay hundreds of dollars to rent a booth, secure parking and town permits, rent tents and furniture, and find lodging for the multi-day events. But access to buyers is often well worth it.
According to Ververidis, a Brimfield season may have as many as 50,000 visitors, with May being the most well-attended show.
“Hundreds of people will line up on opening day, each paying $5, and they will rush the field,” Minifie said. “That’s your best day. The last day is mostly locals browsing, but you want dealers to find you. They are the ones who spend money.”
Like Minifie, who himself does a “fair amount” of shopping at Brimfield, dealers often look to antiques events and shows to bulk up their own inventory, and Brimfield’s closures have affected what they have been able to buy.
Grace Snyder and her husband Elliott are antiques dealers based in South Egremont who specialize in 17th and 18th century American furniture and folk art, early metalwork including 15th and 16th century candlesticks, and textiles such as needlework and hooked rugs. They attend shows and auctions for buying opportunities, sometimes looking through hundreds of items at a time, and buy at shows where they are also selling.
Shows used to be the biggest part of their business, although now they only participate in a handful each year including The Collectors Fair in Manchester, New Hampshire, and the Connecticut Spring Antiques Show in Hartford. Last year, the five shows they booked either canceled or moved online. While online shows are a fraction of the cost, they present other obstacles for businesses dealing in specialty objects.
“We have the customers wanting to buy, but our problem has been finding material we trust,” said Snyder. “It’s astonishing to me that people are buying without seeing the items in person.”
Not only is online buying riskier for Snyder, but it also eats into her profits. “Because of the internet, competition [from buyers] is a killer — it comes from all over the world,” she said. “The extraordinarily high prices from some online auction houses are incredible, and you rarely get a bargain.”
Todd Clark, owner of Clark Vintage Lighting in Pittsfield, is often outbid by homeowners who pay retail prices for unique lighting available online. He sold all his high-end fixtures last year and is unable to replace them without Brimfield. Lighting restoration comprises the majority of his business, and in-person antiques shows are where he can find “raw” fixtures and other gems.
“I buy things that are so far gone, no one else sees the value in them,” he said. “I’m not looking on the tables, I’m looking underneath the tables for things I can rebuild. Auction houses don’t sell boxes of parts.”
Clark attended Brimfield as a shopper in 2017 in order to stock up on fixtures and parts in preparation for the launch of his own business, and he said he would have gone last summer, as well. Sales of higher priced merchandise have picked up significantly, he said, because of the pandemic.
“People are stuck in the Berkshires and are repairing and buying lighting for these homes,” he said. “If a wealthy person comes [to my shop] and wants a grand chandelier to fill their big dining room, I don’t have it.”
Alex Mulens is seeing a similar trend.
A founding partner of Mix on Main in Sheffield, Mulens’ mid-century Modern furniture business relocated five years ago to Millerton, New York, where he sublets 600 square feet from Montage Antiques. Although business picked up after the move, he continued to rent booth space at Central Park in Brimfield in May and September. But he did not miss the shuttered markets because business is booming.
“Last year was the best year we’ve ever had,” he said. “The reason why business is so good is because of COVID. More New Yorkers moved to the countryside full-time, and the furniture business has been off the charts.”
In fact, 2020 was the biggest year of home sales in Berkshire County since this data has been tracked, said Rachel Louchen, a realtor with Berkshire Property Agents. “We saw a huge influx of buyers from New York City and Boston — it was a crazy summer.”
Not only did sale transactions increase last year, but the average sale price rose 32 percent to $375,430 according to Berkshire REALTORS’ 2020 Year End Market Watch Report. Countywide, there were $794 million dollars in sales, up 55 percent from 2019.
Despite the boost that the real estate market has brought to his home furnishings business, Mulens hopes to attend Brimfield’s September show to shop for inventory.
“Brimfield is a lot of fun,” he said. “We get together with other dealers and friends, rent a cabin, and have parties at the end of the day in the fields. It’s financially and socially beneficial.”
