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Page 14 The Antique Shoppe October, 2018
ANTIQUES
SPOTLIGHT
By Laura Sikes
GASLIGHT ANTIQUES
“Pressing on as Happy as Ever”
It’s been a 40-year love affair for owners David and Vikki of Gaslight
Antiques in Tampa. When David, a biologist and an educator, and
Vikki, a former mortgage banker united, it was a successful match
in life as well as in business. Married for 44 years, the couple has
shared their passion for fine antiques and are celebrating 40 years
in business together. 813-870-0934
Vikki says that David’s father used to always say, “David and Vikki
are like a well-oiled machine.”
The two have built one of the premier antique stores in Florida
and both give their family backgrounds credit for their mutual
interest in antiques. The store was voted as
Tampa’s Best Antiques by The Tampa Tribune.
Vikki’s father was a master craftsman in cabinet
making and furniture in Paris while David’s father
was an advertising and marketing executive in
Ohio. David has a love for antique advertising
memorabilia and history. He traveled with his
parents and saw the country and visited many
museums while growing up and has a strong
interest in history.
“David is like a walking encyclopedia in American and world history,” says Vikki.
Vikki, who moved from Paris to America as a teen with her parents, attributes her
love for beautiful antique furniture to being exposed to her father’s craftsmanship.
Gaslight Antiques is known as a “destination business” for fine antiques with three
galleries of merchandise filling 13,000 square feet, almost half a city block of space.
They were able to buy the property in 1978 and began with a 2,500 square foot store.
The store specializes in furniture and antiques from about mid-18th century through
about the end of the 19th century. They also have a few pieces from the early 1900s
from the arts and crafts movement and art deco era, says Vikki.
The couple likes to make sure their items offered are in perfect condition. They buy
privately and have established longtime relationships in Europe as well as in America
with about 75 percent of their antiques coming from the states.
“We have always been very selective,” says Vikki.
While the store does most of its business in fine antique furniture, it also offers
lighting, clocks, paintings, military memorabilia and thousands of items featured in its
main gallery of 7,500 square feet. A second building of 3,000 square feet houses quality
antique office furniture, carrying everything from roll-top desks, lawyers bookcases to
conference tables and chairs. The third gallery, also with 3,000 square feet, is dedicated
to classic early American furniture, Georgian and Victorian pieces
and beautiful bedroom suites and dining room sets.
GASLIGHT ANTIQUES Vikki says she loves furniture and beautiful design and offers
3616 Henderson Blvd. clients design services. She enjoys mixing antiques with a few
Tampa, FL 33609 contemporary items, like sofas or a few comfortable chairs when
designing a space.
Mon–Sat 10:30-4:00 “I like to have a totally empty room or blank canvas to work
with,” she says. But she encourages her clients to make their own
www.gaslightantiques.com selection of pieces.
“I say to them, “God gave you eyes. Use them. Pick what you
like.”
She will walk around the store with customers
and ask them to show her what they like. “ I t ’ s
funny, but usually everything that people choose
will marry beautifully in a room,” she says.
Vikki says she likes for “the furniture to get
along with the architecture of the room. It’s all
about scale,” she says.
“I tell people if you think it looks good in
Gaslight, wait until you take it home. That’s when
it really looks good.”
The company offers layaway and works with
clients’ budgets. “If someone falls in love with a
piece, we try our best to work with them to see that it
goes home with them.”
“We aim to please,” she says.
The couple runs the business together with some
weekend help from their daughter and son-in-law. They
say they feel blessed to be doing so well over the years.
David said owning their property was one key to their
business’s success. One piece of advice he offers is to buy
and sell items you personally like. “Handle what
you love yourself, because if you really love what you’re
selling that will come through,” he said.
“We sell what we love.”
Besides his appreciation for the
antiques, David says he also enjoys
the whole experience of learning new
things in the business. “We’re always
finding something new and unusual.
You never get a chance to see it all.
You just never know what someone’s
going to call up with or bring to you,”
he said.
Vikki and David both say they are
content to keep on working and
don’t see retirement yet. The
way David says he sees things
is “you have two choices in life:
you either sit home and look at
the walls or work here.”
“It’s much more exciting to
be here,” he said, “I love every
minute of it.”
Laura Sikes is a freelance photojournalist
who lives in Mount Dora, Fla. Email:
lasikes@gmail.com