• Hannah Feuer
• Above: Sasha and Dennis French at the Vintage Den

Browsing the Vintage Den in Hyde Park, customers might discover a rare copy of John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address ($800), a "No Parking" sign from Hawaii ($100) or a comic book from the Marvel series Fantastic Four ($2).

Opened in December 2023 by married couple Sasha and Dennis French, the antiques store offers an eclectic array of secondhand items ideal for home décor. The Vintage Den's inventory includes collections of film cameras, lamps, vintage toys, road signs, old bottles and music records. The crowded shelves and one-of-a-kind pieces make shopping feel more like treasure hunting.

"There's all this great old stuff that's out there that you could use or enjoy and not buy new stuff off the shelf," Dennis said. "It's just way more appealing."

The Vintage Den's charm is evident from the parking lot: A "Sorry, we're open" sign hangs in the window, while quirky items such as a birdhouse, traffic cone, beach umbrella and child-size Mickey Mouse chair are displayed outside.

• Hannah Feuer
• Lamps at the Vintage Den

The Frenches, who live in Waterville, source their wares at estate sales and auctions and through happenstance. For instance, Dennis got the JFK speech for free when he stumbled on it in a stack of books left over after an auction in Montpelier. Other items are the Frenches' own family heirlooms from Sasha's grandmother.

The Vintage Den also helps people manage estate sales, which frequently offer a wealth of antiques.

"All these people get stuck with their parents' stuff, and they don't want it," Dennis said. "So there's tons of inventory that just becomes available all the time, and it's kind of a service to help people sort through that."

On occasion, the couple will cater to specific customer requests. Collectors of Star Wars memorabilia and chicken- and rooster-themed art are among the store's clientele.

"People have certain things where they're always looking for that stuff," Dennis said. "So if you know somebody's into, like, G.I. Joe stuff, anytime I see G.I. Joe, that light bulb pops on, and I'm thinking of that person."

One of those customers was Allen Van Anda, owner of Lost Nation Brewing in Morrisville, who stopped by to pick up a Miller High Life-branded wall clock he'd bought for $20. Dennis had purchased the clock at an estate sale with Van Anda in mind.

"This place is incredible," Van Anda said. "I was like, I need something funky, and I knew I could come here and find something."

The couple's personalized approach and curation of their store align with their broader mission of combating overconsumption and the waste it creates, Dennis explained. In their personal lives, the couple rarely discard anything and seldom buy new items. Both create art from recycled materials in their free time. Dennis, for instance, crafts miniature gondola sculptures from salvaged wood, for sale at Remarkable Things in Stowe.

Both in their forties, the Frenches met in exactly the manner one might expect antique pickers to find love: through a Craigslist personals ad. They quickly bonded over their passion for art and secondhand shopping. Early dates involved shopping at thrift stores and getting takeout and enjoying their meal in a parking lot. "That's still what we like to do," Sasha said with a laugh.

• Hannah Feuer
• Collection of vintage glass

Small-town retail is a family tradition for Sasha. Her grandfather owned the now-defunct Toy Castle in Claremont, N.H., and her father sold baseball cards at flea markets. Sasha herself studied sculpture art at Johnson State College (now Vermont State University), while Dennis briefly attended the Maine College of Art & Design in the '90s before dropping out to move to Killington, where he "did the ski bum thing."

"We've both grown up in the thrifty lifestyle," Sasha said. "We're always hustling."

That ethos extends to the store's pricing practices. Dennis admits that a lot of the pricing is "guesswork," and he allows customers to negotiate. Items can also be bundled for discounts.

"We try and keep things reasonable, like what we would want to pay for them," Dennis said. "You could definitely charge a lot more for some stuff, but then you're sitting on it forever. I'd rather just move stuff and have people happy and coming back."

Van Anda said the personalized customer service and unique finds are what draw him to the store.

"They don't make stuff like this anymore," he said. "You're not going to get this on Amazon."