When you step through the doors of Vintage Rose Boutique, there’s no telling what you’ll find. Everything from holiday decor to rustic wares to light-up signs and oversized Scrabble tiles are just a small portion of the variety of things that you’ll find for sale.
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Rae Faltysek has a small section of the Vintage Rose Boutique on the lower level dedicated almost exclusively to vintage advertising. Most of them are full-page ads clipped out of Time or Life Magazine, and any number of popular magazines from the 40’s into the 60’s. Faltysek says the idea came about as a solution to how to handle her late father’s stacks of reading material. But while it was a hobby for him, it’s turned into more of a lifeline for her.
It’s an odd position to be in—especially for her—after 17 years as Workers’ Compensation Administrator for Ford Motor Company-Tulsa Glass Plant, and another 8 years as Nurse Case Manager, her job was helping injured workers get proper medical care and return to work.
And then she was laid off last July, and found herself on the other side of that situation.
“People say ‘oh you’re a nurse, you can work anywhere,'” she says. “But I haven’t done patient care in over 30 years.”
She quickly added, “It’s okay, I’m enjoying what I do now, anyway.”
Born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, Rae moved to Oklahoma in early 80s and finally settled in Sapulpa in 1987, where she’s remained ever since.
She started her vintage art business in September, 2016 as a way to turn her father’s pastime into a channel of income.
Everything from vintage advertising for Coca-Cola, General Electric and Chevrolet to snapshots of her father’s passion—shooting photos of dilapidated houses and buildings.
Each piece is fitted to a hand-cut matte board, so when you hang it in your game room, your guests won’t know it wasn’t bought at some high-end auction.
The prices are reasonable, too—each item costs between $5.00-$15.00 depending on popularity. Some of the special ones are already framed and ready to go at $45.00.
And Rae has done her research. Pointing to one of the higher-priced framed pieces, she remarks, “that one’s hard to find. Plus it has more than one element (of nostalgia) to it.”
She’s trying to sell online, but shipping becomes an issue if you want a good presentation. “Most other places just send it to you in a tube,” she says. “You have to matte it and hang it yourself. I’d like to give them more than that.”
If nothing else, it will help others enjoy the things her father collected over the years. And if she happens to make enough money to pay the bills, that’s fine, too.
Vintage Art can be found on the lower level of Vintage Rose, at 105 E. Dewey in Downtown Sapulpa.
