Amy Webb’s love for vintage began in the cluttered basement of her grandparents’ Adams County farmhouse.
She would slip away from the family with her sister to fool around with old wheelchairs, tinker with forgotten tools and, her favorite, sift through dusty copies of National Geographic.
“Photography back then was beautiful, bright and vibrant. And the magazines themselves were really beautiful,” Webb said.
Now, Webb, 30, is behind vintage retailer Odd Stock Co., with its headquarters going wherever she goes, bouncing back and forth from Cincinnati to Madison, Indiana.
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It’s easy to see Webb’s childhood influence in the pieces she finds, her eyes gravitating to what makes her nostalgic — and that means anything from the 1990s.
Last month, Webb sold a white mug with a Pizza Hut logo, noting it was bittersweet to say goodbye to since it made her reminisce on childhood dinners spent at the buffet.
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But Webb said she’d rather sell than hoard something that could be cherished by someone else.
“I always say, ‘At least I had it in my possession for a hot second,'” she said. “My Instagram is my little photo album of all the cool treasures that I don’t have anymore.”
To her, even simple things are worth adoration.
Webb picked up a ribbed, red, crewneck tee with three buttons on the collar. The tag said it was originally from Kmart. She guessed it was circa the 1990s. It may have seemed unremarkable when it was produced, she said, but now it’s a relic of a once-booming retailer and a quality that consumers don’t often get today.
Quality aside, Webb said she likes the sustainability of secondhand shopping. She sources her stock from flea markets, antique and thrift stores and the occasional private seller.
“It bothers me so much the amount of stuff that we have thrown away and discarded,” Webb said. “We are so wasteful. I wish there was less of that, and more people being like ‘let’s share things.’”
She keeps that in mind for her business, using repurposed boxes for shipping, keeping tags on old sewing boxes and storing clothes on a rack made from salvaged wood. And when something she’s sourced doesn’t work out, she donates it.
As sole proprietor, Webb takes on a lot of roles: sourcing, cleaning, photographing, shipping, customer service and managing social media, to name a few.
And all of this is Webb’s side hustle. She has worked full-time as a graphic designer for a decade.
For now, Odd Stock Co. sells housewares on Etsy and clothing on Depop. Webb also stocks booths in Flamingo Haven Antique Mall in Winton Place and Fill More Waste Less in Madisonville. And every month, she sets up a booth at the City Flea in Washington Park.
But to her, the future of the business seems bright. She’s dabbling in upcycling objects to make candles and graphic tees, and added that she hopes to one day have a brick-and-mortar space.
“I would love to be in a coffee shop having vintage mugs. I would love to be in a clothing store with a rack of vintage clothes,” Webb said. “Nobody is putting any pressure on me and it’s very much what I want to do.”