Student opens antique booth

By: Laura Cash

"One man's trash is another man's treasure."

This is one Murray State student's outlook on life. Emma Wall, senior from Germantown, Tenn., is ensuring that old, unwanted furniture is not thrown out; instead, she is refinishing the worn wood and restoring its once beautiful frame.

And she does it all with a slight modern twist.

She recently restored an old, scrappy chair by refinishing it with black paint and reupholstering the seat with bright pink material.

"I don't want to waste things," Wall said.

She started looking into redoing furniture when she first wanted a chair for her apartment.

"Everything I wanted was expensive," Wall said. "So I went to Goodwill, got supplies and made one."

As a result of this first project, she began buying aged, shabby furniture and flipping it for profit. Through her talent and demand for such items, she started her own logo, cunningly called Wall Art.

Wall Art's notoriety has spread largely by word-of mouth. Wall said she and her mother were at Murray's Peddlers Mall one weekend when her mother suggested she rent a booth like the ones they were visiting.

So that is what she did.

Wall's first step toward entrepreneurship was to obtain her business license. About one month ago she received the license from Murray City Hall for $35.

This past Saturday, Wall performed another uncommon task for a college student: she opened her own booth at Peddlers Mall. There, she sells her homemade and refurbished items.

"I also paint canvases," Wall said.

Wall said she does not follow any guidelines or patterns for her creations; instead, she learns best from trial-and-error. So far, Wall's trials have laid a successful path. She has already sold one item at her booth.

Her business savvy side is also playing a role in her achievement in this trade.

"I have a spreadsheet that I write how much I spend on each item and how much I sell it for," Wall said.

Wall is not the only student affiliated with Peddlers Mall. Colton Gray, sophomore from Eddyville, Ky., is the only student employee at the store.

"I came in all the time because of discount movies," Gray said.

As a result of his visits and an application process, Gray became an employee at the local favorite.

He said the mall has more than 200 booth spaces but currently only has about two open spaces.

"(The vendor) picks the location and pays a deposit," Gray said.

Peddlers Mall collects 2 percent commission of each booth's sells, but the vendor takes the remaining 98 percent.

Prospective vendors must have a Murray business license and cannot sell firearms or explicit items. Commonly sold items are furniture, toys, clothing and tools.

Peddlers Mall is located at 928 S. 12th St.. Business hours are 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday - Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 759-2106.

Laura Cash can be reached at laura.cash@murraystate.edu.