Antiques sale goes global

Mar 11 2009 by Graeme King, The Journal

A JESMOND antiques dealer is taking a distinctly 21st Century approach to surviving the recession – by expanding into online sales.

Graham Smith Antiques is launching its own website to reach as wide an audience as possible.

The new site – grahamsmithantiques.com – has been put together with the help of some Business Link funding to try to confound the traditional notion that the antiques business does not embrace innovative or forward thinking.

Now the Fern Avenue business is championing the slogan “Bringing the old into the new” and hopes to drive sales outside normal avenues. Mr Smith said: “Businesses need to push forward in new ways during a time of decreased confidence and consumer uncertainty: it’s no good battening down the hatches if you want to get through it.

“The potential customers are there, they just need a way of finding you and what you have to offer.

“Quality antique furniture that will hold or even gain value should be on everybody’s shopping list as the money spent on it is a far better investment than furnishing your home or business with items that will have no resale value.”

The new website is designed to be both user-friendly and informative, with advice on caring for antiques and a gifts section split into price categories.