Spooky Season
Read time: 4 minutes
Get out your pumpkins and set up the 12 foot Home Depot Skeleton because Spooky Season is here!
And the authority on that topic is none other than Dela Billingsley, owner and proprietor of Dela Deville’s Vintage (120 W Emma Ave). This Downtown OG and badass entrepreneur kindly agreed to let me profile her for this week’s letter—hope you enjoy!
The Queen of Halloween
Dela opened her shop on November 1, 2018. Prior to that, she participated in local shows like The Junk Ranch. She still participates in local events, but now also travels to shows as far as Houston, New Orleans and Chicago. Last year, she did nine traveling events and has applied for fourteen next year! When she goes, she hauls enough inventory to fill a 10 x 30 booth. She’s been renting U-Haul vans, but she says it’s probably time for her own.
Dela’s insider tip: if you like vintage clothes, she suggests checking out the Time Travelers Vintage Expo. They’re based out of Tulsa, but come to Rogers every March and have a killer selection of vintage clothing, home goods, and retro-inspired handmade items.
Her store is comprised of:
50% true vintage
50% vintage-inspired, alternative/goth made by small businesses
For non-vintage, she works exclusively with small businesses as suppliers and loves making connections with other small biz owners. With goth pieces, she is often the maker’s first retail store—and almost always their first in Arkansas!
It is also important for Dela that she stock a variety of sizes—another reason she loves the vintage reproduction styles. Finding true vintage pieces in plus sizes can be harder to find, but she’s intentional about inclusivity.
Pivoting & Growing
In a vintage clothing business, every item is its own SKU and the sizes, fits and shapes all vary. So managing an online store in addition to a brick-and-mortar location while doing a dozen events per year is a lot of work—especially when you’re meticulous about documenting the imperfections like Dela is.
So when she started, she didn’t have or want an online store.
However, that changed during COVID and since, her online presence has been booming. She now has a successful online store and has further expanded into Whatnot.
If you haven’t heard of Whatnot, it’s a live-shopping auction/streaming platform—and it’s fascinating!
Della has been buying on the site for two years, but has only been selling there for about four months. She now hosts multiple shows each week. With her “mystery pulls”, she typically aims for two hours, but if the audience wants more, she will go longer (her record is 4 hours)!
She says she feels connected and supported by the Whatnot community. If you would like to check it out, her next show is Wednesday at 6:30 pm.
Also, some of those of you who’ve been around will remember Dela’s Grandma. For the first five years the store was open, she was there every single day. I asked, and you’ll be pleased to know that she’s still involved and handles all the sewing and repairs on vintage pieces.
Della and her store draw folks from out-of-state and across Northwest Arkansas to Downtown Springdale. We’re proud to have her here and wish her nothing but continued success!
Monster Must-Haves
We asked Della for her three favorite Halloween pieces in-store right now…
The Fitzgerald
There will be a ribbon cutting for Downtown’s newest neighbor —The Fitzgerald— on October 16 at 10:00 am at 310 Holcomb St.
Here’s more info about the project:
Developer: High Street Real Estate & Development (shoutout to new subscriber Natalie Bailey)
Contractor: Buffalo Builders (shoutout to original subscriber Mike Gilbert)
Architect: Rob Sharp
3 stories
2 studio units
6 1-bed / 1-bath units
Restaurant space on the lower floor
Residential rent: $1,225 + $250 utility package = $1,475 per month
For leasing info, contact Brian White at (479) 308-5034
Ghoul’s Night
Make plans to join us for Ghoul’s Night on October 17 at 5:00 pm!
20+ businesses open late with spooky specials
Costume Contest - I’m one of this year’s judges!
Art + Shopping
Treats & Drinks
Check out the official Instagram page for more details and specials from Downtown businesses!
