Good stores almost always have one thing in common. It’s that certain intangible that days later, lingers in your mind. In the case of The Stock Exchange, this is accomplished by what I like to call “the thrill of the hunt.”
Translated into civilian-speak, it means that on any given day, you never know what you’re going to find. The Stock Exchange is a quirky mix of new and mostly vintage furnishings, lighting and, well… just great stuff that makes up the ever-changing inventory of this Hertel Ave. shop. And on any given day, you just never know what you’re going to find!
Owner Andy Gay calls himself a “self-taught interior designer” who is always “buying for the client I don’t have yet.”
It’s been said that a person’s passionate interests, or what I like to think of as their “hard drive,” usually begins at an early age. Andy’s “hard drive” began as a teen when he would occasionally babysit for a neighbor’s child. The parents/ neighbors would return to their home after an evening of fun to find their entire living room cleaned and rearranged by Andy and his charge! They usually liked what he did, which was great positive reinforcement for his endeavors.
A few years later, when Andy’s older sister married, she and her med school husband began setting up a home. Always fascinated with yard and estate sales, Andy began “shopping” for his sister’s new home. This provided him not only with items to buy, but also exposed him to a world of different interior styles of the homes he would visit. Along with purchasing furniture for his sister, he would also occasionally treat himself to a special item that would prove irresistible.
At a certain point his “collection” began to take over his world. It was time for him to organize a “sale” of his own. This proved to be a wonderful experience which periodically repeated itself and eventually turned into a business.
All the while, Andy, who had studied industrial technology, had been maintaining a full time position as an operation supervisor for a security company. His position included travel and his territory stretched from Rochester to Erie, PA and all points in between. This provided him with an expanded territory from which to make regular stops and purchases from established antique dealers, and not just rely on the random yard and estate sales in the Buffalo area.
The more shops he visited, the more he learned about the intriguing items he was collecting. The more he learned, the more he began taking collecting and selling more seriously.
Then, as often happens, Andy’s “perfect storm” occurred and changed the course of his life.
On one of his journeys, he spotted and bought an Etruscan wire-work locket from a jewelry dealer. Purchased at the “right price,” he quickly turned it around for $350, quite a sum in those days! During this two-year period of time, Andy was also acting as a shopper for Coo Coo U, a Hertle Ave. pioneer, who specialized in mid century antiques. Then, suddenly, Andy was fired from his job. Believing that timing was indeed everything, he decided to open his own shop on Hertel, becoming one of the founding members of what is today known as “Buffalo’s Antique Row.”
The original space on the corner of Hertel Ave. and Starin St. was quickly outgrown. He moved to the current Stock Exchange location at 1421 Hertel Ave. where he has remained since 1991. There have been many changes to the store, most recently an interior facelift, enabling Andy to feature a more select inventory. While the first floor remains the showcase for this eclectic collection of furnishings, decoratives and lighting fixtures, the basement contains a funkier stage for equally interesting items. The store is also blessed with extraordinary display windows in which he creates inviting room settings which act as "serving suggestions" for the shops' great pieces.
“Off shore manufacturing keeps getting better and more affordable,” says Andy. “Yet people are always looking for original well made items from different decades. There is a real market for these things. I’m not interested in this being a furniture store, per se, but more a well-edited shop of unusual things that I can offer to interested individuals. There is no style niche here; rather, the beauty is in the selection”
Indeed it is.
The Stock Exchange '1421 Hertel Ave. 716.838.8294