Heritage Antiques and Interiors, LLC
European Buying Trip - Fall 2020
When we tell people that we regularly travel to France and Belgium to source antique for our store, they often remark that they'd like to go as well. While we cannot accommodate that (we've had immediate family members on the waiting list for years), we can allow you to tag along digitally through the following:
Day 1
Hit the ground running
The long flight over was immediately followed by a 2+ hour drive to the medieval city of Rouen to see our first French shipper.
Day 2
No slowing down
For those that regularly follow us, you're familiar with the term "guerilla antiquing" which we borrowed from the awesome New Orleans designer, Tara Shaw. Today was a "guerilla" sort of day -- up early for another multi-hour drive across France to our very first French shippers, a wonderful family in a small village outside of Lille. They've always delivered wonderful finds, and today was no excepetion.
Day 3
Welcome to Belgium
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Day 4
What is a weekend?
Outside Brussels
Day 5
Market morning
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Day 6
Back into France
Headed to CDG
Day 7
Goodbye Europe!
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What's next for all of our finds?
The next phase of importing antiques is one where we are in the hands of and at the mercy of others. We're in good hands with our shippers. They will all coordinate to get our goods to a central place where they will all be carefully packed into a shipping container. Once full, the container is sealed for shipping and trucked to a terminal to begin the ocean passage to Houston. This is when our import broker takes control, filing the necessary forms, paying necessary taxes and fees, and arranging for trucking up from Houston. We're finally then at the mercy of US Customs to clear the container and provide us with a 3-day window that we can have it picked up without incurring additional costs. Oh, and we have to find unloading assistance on a really short notice!
It's not an easy process, but we absolutely love the result -- one-of-a-kind finds to fill our store and eventually grace your homes. Come fill your house with Heritage!