photo by Chrissy Alspaugh
Owners Wendy Reed and Tonya Ballew.
~ by Chrissy Alspaugh
The Route 46 Vintage booth at the Brown County Antique Mall infused inspiration into so many excited shoppers’ homes and wardrobes that the eclectic wares have expanded into their own 1,100-square-foot store behind the mall.
The word vintage is loosely interpreted as clothing and lifestyle accessories created 20 or more years ago, and the little red pole barn brimming with designs from the past is open seven days a week.
“ I’ m not saying I don’ t love walking through Target, but finding one-of-a-kind pieces in a vintage store is what makes a home sing, and look different from anybody else’ s,” said coowner Tonya Ballew.
The booth-turned-business seems like the inevitable outcrop of her 40-year friendship with fellow businesswoman Wendy Reed.
These decorating divas met on the street in Broadripple as the owners of completely unrelated endeavors. Ballew was running a balloon shop while Reed’ s business sold clothes, jewelry, and pop culture gifts.
Ballew said their friendship that day on the sidewalk was,“ Just like,‘ Hey, you look like a cool girl. Want to be friends?’” she laughed.
Their lives continued to diverge. Ballew focused on her young family and running her own interior design firm. Reed eventually opened an ice cream parlor that later became a children’ s events space, all while side-gigging as a singer on
60 Our Brown County • March / April 2024
the syndicated U. S. radio program The Bob & Tom Show.
But Reed said a couple key things transformed them from friends into business partners: a shared passion for vintage treasure hunting, and the fact that both women spent part of their career as sales representatives, selling and marketing manufactured products to wholesale customers.
The savvy saleswomen’ s mounting stock eventually inspired them to become vintage dealers, jointly renting a booth space at an antique mall. Then another. And another. photo by Dane Alspaugh