Leelanau picker presents Vintage Leland

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By Abby Chatfield

Sun contributor

Longtime Leelanau County resident, Kris Noble, unveils her 50-year collection of one-of-a-kind wares at her recently launched upscale resell and consignment shop in Leland. Vintage Leland showcases a combination of vintage picks and consigned items from around the area.

Noble consigns, buys, and sells everything from artwork to housewares, clothing, and accessories, as Vintage Leland quickly earned a reputation as a must-stop shop for vintage jewelry, purses, and women’s apparel. “There is not a store with what I provide in the county. It’s mostly one of a kind,” she said.

All items are adorned with handmade tags, created from vintage magazines and postcards, and are meant to be re-used by patrons as gift cards. Made with love by her friend Susann, the tags and similarly made business cards even support Noble’s motto: “Re-use. Re-purpose. Re-love.”

Noble’s passion for repurposing is evident, not only through her collection but when talking with her as well. She stressed that mixing old with new has always been a part of who she is. She has very particular taste and is not interested in the average. She wants every item’s story to continue and to make sure that each finds the right home.

Noble feels sentimental about everything that makes its way into her shop. “If this thing could talk, what would it tell? I love to pick, but the truest joy is when these items go on and find a new home.” Recently she’s been invited into others’ homes as a private picker. It is important to her to offer a fair deal to everyone she works with, as she values building trust with the community.

A deep-set passion for re-use might be hereditary. “My grandmother who lived to be 100 did this. I grew up doing this,” Noble shared. Her grandmother was an antique dealer, and her grandfather owned a wrecking yard. He loved giving marbles to his granddaughter, which soon turned into her first collection. Noble continues to collect marbles to this day and displays some of them in a gumball dispenser on her shop counter, encouraging kids to slip a coin in for a marble and start their own collection.

Raised in southern Indiana by her mother and a Marine Corps Captain father, she developed solid Midwestern values and an extremely strong work ethic. She spends hours shopping to find the cream of the crop for her patrons. She extensively researches pricing for all items, never winging it. While it is time consuming, Noble loves the research. It is a seven day per week job that requires she trust her choices, take risks, and carefully manage her time.

So far, it is all worth it, as turning her passion into a business fulfills a desire that dates back at least 10 years. The timing is finally right, as is the time in life to do it, she expressed. A space opened and, within two weeks, Vintage Leland was born. Noble stresses that none of it would be possible without support from friends and family like Anne, Anka and Susann.

Noble has always felt like she was born in the wrong time. The life of a flapper, or perhaps a 1950s era housewife in a pink Formica kitchen, seems to suit her better. Her aesthetic tastes draw her to mid-century modern. For now, Noble is taking it day by day but shared that she envisions potentially building a much larger inventory of all items mid-century modern, especially furniture and artwork from that era, expanding into a warehouse-sized space.

As for now, you can find Vintage Leland at 203 N. Main Street in Leland and shop Kris Noble’s wares online by following her business on Instagram and Facebook. She welcomes phone calls and loves to chat with people about picking, collecting, and consigning. Feel free to call her at (231) 386-2454 or visit the store during these times: 11-5 pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays; 12-5 pm on Sundays; by appointment most days.