2008 Woodie Awards
Origins of an antique shop
Stephanie Savage
Issue date: 3/2/08 Section: Entertainment
Since 1993, Federico Santi and his partner, John Gacher, have owned and operated their antique shop, The Drawing Room, on Spring Street in the downtown area of Newport. Santi, who grew up on a desolate farm in Georgia, volunteered in VISTA just after college and after VISTA met a lot of acquaintances from the Boston area. Santi fell in love with New England while visiting his friends in Boston in 1971 and has never left. While working in management in Boston, he met Gacher and in 1977 the two men moved to Fall River, Mass. In 1985, they sold their home and relocated to Newport, a town with immensely rich history.
Q: How did you and your partner, John Gacher, get started in the business?
A: Both of our parents collected antiques so in our youth they were always around us. When John and I met, we had both been collecting since the same point in time and would go to flea markets together and actually set up at flea markets in Boston. We also did antique shows and since I was in management, it helped to supplement our income. It was a hobby that we made money with. In 1985, we moved to Stone Street in Newport. We stored antiques at three locations but we always had more things than we had space to display them. This building had always interested us and we always wanted to own it. In 1993 we made arrangements to sell our condos and then rent the shop downstairs from the owner. His wife, who was dying of cancer, had a costume museum in this building. After she died, we finally talked him into selling the building to us in 1999.
Q: What is the best part of your job?
A: The best part of our job, I think, is going on house calls. Going to people's homes is a lot of fun because you never know what you are going to find. The hunt for new antiques has always been fun and still is.
Q: How is your business surviving during this economically challenging time, as well as Newport's off season?
A: We've been here a long time so everybody knows us so the same people always come back and buy from us. We went online in 1996 with our website, and there are some months in which 50 percent of our gross sales come from our website alone. If somehow the internet were to die, it would be like taking half of our income away--that's a big difference. If we did not have the internet we would not have been able to survive. I think that's why when we moved here, there were 42 antique shops in Newport and now there is only half a dozen.
Q: How did you and your partner, John Gacher, get started in the business?
A: Both of our parents collected antiques so in our youth they were always around us. When John and I met, we had both been collecting since the same point in time and would go to flea markets together and actually set up at flea markets in Boston. We also did antique shows and since I was in management, it helped to supplement our income. It was a hobby that we made money with. In 1985, we moved to Stone Street in Newport. We stored antiques at three locations but we always had more things than we had space to display them. This building had always interested us and we always wanted to own it. In 1993 we made arrangements to sell our condos and then rent the shop downstairs from the owner. His wife, who was dying of cancer, had a costume museum in this building. After she died, we finally talked him into selling the building to us in 1999.
Q: What is the best part of your job?
A: The best part of our job, I think, is going on house calls. Going to people's homes is a lot of fun because you never know what you are going to find. The hunt for new antiques has always been fun and still is.
Q: How is your business surviving during this economically challenging time, as well as Newport's off season?
A: We've been here a long time so everybody knows us so the same people always come back and buy from us. We went online in 1996 with our website, and there are some months in which 50 percent of our gross sales come from our website alone. If somehow the internet were to die, it would be like taking half of our income away--that's a big difference. If we did not have the internet we would not have been able to survive. I think that's why when we moved here, there were 42 antique shops in Newport and now there is only half a dozen.
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