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Read any design magazine out there, and it’s hard to miss the constant, fawning references to 1st Dibs, the online antiques shopping site that changed the way designers and retail customers buy antiques. Yet, of the thousands of antique dealers in the United States and across the world, 1st Dibs features only a few hundred.
That’s why dealer Elliot Spaisman, who lives in DC’s Woodley Park, started thinking that perhaps there’s room for more than one online shopping vehicle in the antiques world.
Enter, Bond & Bowery, the brainchild of Spaisman and partner George Evans. Spaisman’s father, Ben Spaisman of Potomac, MD, is the marketing and business mind behind the venture. Since its introduction last August, the site now offers goods from about 60 U.S. and London dealers, including a dozen in the DC area. Bond & Bowery’s goal is to showcase 120 dealers by year’s end, which Elliot says it is on track to meet.
“I noticed the success of 1st Dibs, and I realized there was room in the market,” Elliot says. “Why can’t there be a couple sites out there?”
Elliot remembers traveling to the high-end antiques shows when he first got into the business eight years ago, and – well into the digital age – people were still asking for Polaroids of the products.
“I noticed there needed to be more technology in the business,” he says. Not only has the Internet made it easier to see what’s out there, it also attracts people who can’t get to the big shows and don’t have time to scour the shops.
“The demand for antiques and fine art continues to grow, yet most business is still conducted in an outdated and inefficient manner,” Evans says. “There is no reason a dealer’s customer base should be limited to visitors to a physical showroom in Santa Fe or a booth in an antiques show.”
Bond & Bowery’s name comes from the intersection of those streets in New York’s West Village – and the figurative intersection of New York’s glittery (Bond) and gritty (Bowery) sides, Ben Spaisman says. That’s because the site offers goods costing anywhere from the low hundreds to more then $45,000.
The Spaismans are quick to point out that Bond & Bowery is only a portal – they don’t get involved in any sales. Dealers pay Bond & Bowery to “rent” space on the site, and all transactions take place offline between customer and dealer.
While 1st Dibs has a multitude of editorial content and advertising in addition to its products, Bond & Bowery has none, and that is on purpose, Ben says. “We wanted to make it a very simple experience for the buyer to meet the seller.”
Using the Internet as a metaphor, he adds: “If they want to be a Yahoo, we’d rather be the Google, which is real simple.”
If you want to seek further advice and opinions about the products from Evans, who lives in New Jersey and has been dealing antiques for more than 20 years, go to Design2Share. The site features a weekly offering from Bond & Bowery, along with an interview with Evans, who talks about the history of that piece and how it can fit into your home.
As for the big antiques shows, where “masses” of people used to sprint down the aisles to claim the best stuff once the doors opened, sites such as Bond & Bowery and 1st Dibs have changed that culture for good, Elliot says.
“Now, the shows are kind of empty,” he says, “and most people are shopping online.”
