Powhatan-based vintage reseller Part-Time Pickers hits $1M milestone

Kelly Gunn is taking the vintage reselling world by storm. (Photos courtesy Part-Time Pickers)

Kelly Gunn has turned what started as a part-time hobby into a full-time “million-dollar” business.

The Powhatan resident’s online vintage resale company Part-Time Pickers last month crossed a major milestone: $1 million in total sales.

That’s $1 million in sales since 2020, not long after Gunn left her career for a full-time position as an antique and vintage reseller.

“It’s been amazing, because I’m not only the gal who sells vintage, I’m the gal who left her job to do it,” said Gunn, who runs Part-Time Pickers out of her home with a detached garage for inventory.

Gunn started Part-Time Pickers in 2014 as just that — a part-time gig. At the time, she’d spent over two decades in the wholesale gift industry as a sales and marketing executive.

While she had achieved success professionally, Gunn had always had a love for all things vintage, which she called an “escape from the real world.” That led her to start the Part-Time Pickers page on Facebook, where she could sell items she found in her weekend vintage hunts.

“It was incredibly part-time. It just gave me the opportunity to sell an occasional item,” she said. “But it also allowed me to be in a community of other vintage loving, like-minded people. It was my happy place.”

Fast forward a few years, and Gunn’s then-full-time job brought with it increased travel and time apart from her family. She said it was putting strain on her.

“I could just see the cycle repeating itself of missing milestones and missing life events,” she said.

Meanwhile, Part-Time Pickers at that point had amassed a sizable following, with 10,000 followers on Facebook. That led her to wonder if, at 54, she could turn Part-Time Pickers into a full-time gig, which she did starting in 2019.

During her first full-time year as a “picker,” Gunn used all her knowledge from her previous part-time vintage sourcing and her former job to grow the business. Instead of just sourcing from thrift stores and estate sales as she had in her part-time days, Gunn began working with antique vendors to build a unique inventory.

Gunn crossed $1 million in sales in January.

And as Part-Time Pickers became full-time, things picked up. By the end of 2020, Part-Time Pickers crossed six-figures in sales. And half a decade on from that, it hit the cumulative sales mark of more than $1 million.

Gunn stocks all sorts of vintage items, the type you might have seen in someone’s living room in 1960. There’s mid-century “kitchenalia,” clocks, glassware, vases and more.

Products are typically priced around $150 apiece, but things like unused vintage Pyrex can retail for upward of a few hundred dollars.

Gunn’s reputation has grown too. Part-Time Pickers now has over 400,000 Facebook followers and 130,000 Instagram followers. And its customer base reaches far beyond the business’s home base in rural Powhatan. It’s not uncommon for Gunn to make sales that are shipped as far away as Australia.

Part-Time Pickers is also gathering customers from across generations. Gunn said she’s seen customers from their early 20s into their 90s source vintage pieces from her business.

For her, bringing a love of vintage to the younger generation, particularly through her Instagram, has been one of the most rewarding parts of Part-Time Pickers.

“That’s the fun thing. The older people lived it, but younger people get to say, ‘This reminds me of grandma,’” she said. “It’s very nostalgic for them, and it’s fun to see how they embrace the sustainability of the product.”

And though the business has grown, Gunn believes in keeping a tight inventory, often buying a product, selling and repeating the process. While her husband helps her with her buying trips, Part-Time Pickers is officially a one-woman show.

Gunn also hopes her career change six years ago can serve as inspiration to others.

“I want to motivate other people, especially 60-year-olds who might be thinking ‘My career is over, my time is done,’” she said. “I’m a great example of what an old gal can do when you put your mind to it.”