Upon my decision to open a vintage store, one of my brainstorm births was a fictional character who I dubbed LonesomeBrown.  I figured I would name my store after her and all of the items for sale would be her possessions.  At first Lonesome was left underdeveloped, a mere sketch of a character described in my shop announcement:

Lonesome Brown lives in the past with her memories and possessions, with her wool Scottish sweaters, ceramic trinkets, and record player. She loves her wellingtons, always wears a floppy hat, and goes swing dancing on Saturday nights. During the week she just waters her flowers and reads Sherlock Holmes.

After a few weeks, I decided to include short fictional stories in each of the item descriptions, thus increasing the believability of the items being “owned” by LB.  As I did so, the character started to really become fleshed out.  LonesomeBrown, who had always been whimsical and old-fashioned, took on a distinctly 1950s persona.  It became clear that she was sheltered, artistic, and extremely lady-like.  Her background and childhood have been alluded to and new characters introduced to my shop’s audience.  (Audience may be an odd word-choice, but I have received feedback from shoppers who say they check my shop daily for new stories.)

With time I decided I wanted LonesomeBrown to be more than a shop.  She’s a story to be followed.  In order to encourage her growth I’ve created a Facebook Fan page, and a Twitter account.  Please fan my Facebook page and follow my Twitter updates to gain daily insight to the LB world.  And of course to shop vintage, please visit www.LonesomeBrown.etsy.com.

Wishing on a star,

LonesomeBrown