East End Vintage Market: An endless treasure trove of antiques

If you’re an antique collector visiting Kerrville, East End Vintage Market should be on your itinerary.

The spacious shop at 1712 Water St. includes multiple booths showcasing a collection of antique items from 20 dealers from across the Hill Country.

Serious collectors and general customers alike can find not only antiques but furniture, original artwork, jewelry, knickknacks, clothes, glassware and more from all kinds of eras past.

The new owners, Susie Schwethelm and Austin Tonroy, made the decision to rebrand the business from East End Market to East End Vintage Market when they came into ownership in January. East End Market was originally established in 2018 in the former building that housed Edson’s Kerrcrafters, a handcrafted furniture and upholstery business that opened in 1938 and closed in 2013.

Based out of Comfort, Schwethelm and Tonroy were customers of East End Market before they became the owners.

“We started shopping in here, and when we heard the previous owners wanted to retire, we saw an opportunity,” said Tonroy.

“We added the ‘Vintage’ just to clarify a little bit more about what the business is,” Schwethelm said. “We sell antique, vintage and local artisan items.”

Schwethelm and Tonroy hit the ground running with a vision for their new shop.

Everything is dealer-based at East End Vintage Market, an important business aspect for the new owners of the shop.

“We decided our vision was to be more of a support system for the dealers,” Schwethelm said. “We have very few of our own items in the store, and there are no longer consignment items anymore.”

Most dealers who sold at East End Market are still with the shop as it’s gone through a rebrand, and some have even expanded to multiple booths. There are a few new dealers as well.

“We both have extensive business backgrounds, so we’re kind of the back end,” Schwethelm said. “That way, the dealers do what they do best, and we do what we do best.”

“They’re curating, and we’re just running things,” Tonroy said.

“They’re also so knowledgeable about the items they bring in,” said Schwethelm. “They have to be to know what the item is, research the history and price it correctly. It’s a lot more work than people think. I’ve learned a lot from them.”

Each month, a display designed by a dealer featuring items from their inventory is showcased in a space near the front entrance of the shop.

“Once you take out the consignment, everything flows a little bit better,” Schwethelm said. “We have dealers doing the staging, so everything looks much more attractive and makes it a little bit better of a shopping experience.”

“There are certain requirements for them to sell here,” said Tonroy. “We need references if they’ve been in other stores, we want photos, and they have to have an online social media presence and tag us so we can expand our social media as well.”

East End Vintage Market is very active on its social media platforms, as it shares and showcases inventory items multiple times a week. Find the business on Facebook and on Instagram @eastendvintagemarkettx.

“Most recently, we had a girl drive all the way from Barton Springs specifically to visit the shop because she saw it on Instagram,” Schwethelm said. “We’re getting more and more people visiting like that, and that’s kind of the goal.”

The new owners have also closed off the front window of the building to make it more of a display piece.

“We change the show window out once a month, and it catches people’s eye, which increases our sales,” Schwethelm said. “The last one we had in the window, we had to change out after about two weeks because we sold a bunch of the stuff that was on display.”

Inventory organization and well spaced booths are also a feature of the shop.

“It’s got a little bit different feel in here when you walk in. The goal is for people to be relaxed when they come in to shop,” Schwethelm said. “You go into a lot of antiques stores and you kind of have to weave in and out between all the items. There’s room to walk here.”

Looking toward the future of the business, the owners’ eyes are on growth and community engagement.

“We want to become the premiere shopping place for the Hill Country,” Tonroy said. “What we want to attract are designers but also have something for everyone.”

“When you have such a wide variety of stuff you need a wide variety of clients,” said Schwethelm. “We’ve also discussed other opportunities like pop-ups, and we’re doing the First Friday Wine Share in April.”

The First Friday Wine Share will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 4. The goal of First Friday Wine Share is to bring community members into local establishments that they might not have previously known about.

Attendees are asked to bring no more than one bottle of wine per every two people. Dealers from East End Vintage Market will be at the event for a meet and greet.

To learn more, visit www.firstfridaywinesahre.com.

Hours for East End Vintage Market are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Inventory is constantly updated, as dealers come and go frequently to update the items, creating an endless treasure trove of discoveries for anyone who might make the decision to wander inside.

“On average, we have two to three of the dealers in here every day,” Schwethelm said. “You can see a little bit of their personality in each booth.”

“We love having the dealers in the shop,” she said. “When collectors or customers are able to meet the people they’re buying from, it makes the experience that much more personable.”

East End Vintage Market is at 1712 Water St. To learn more, call 830-955-5882 or email eastendvm@gmail.com.

This article was originally published in the April 2025 Hill Country Culture Magazine.