Photo by Trip Burns.
Pam Anglin doesn't quite know how she got into the antiques business. The job just fell into her lap.
Anglin graduated from Forest Hill High School and then attended Belhaven University. She had been working in marketing when she got a job at an antique booth in a mall in Jackson. She liked it so much that she became an antiques dealer under the name French Twist.
As her business thrived, she decided to open the Antique Shops of Jackson (4525 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road, 601-982-1881).
"Some people love shoes or clothes," Anglin says. "I love furniture."
This is her eighth year at the Frontage Road location where Bennigan's used to be. "We started out all antiques, but now it's about half (antique) and half (new) now, just because of my clientele," Anglin says. Her clients are mostly people in their late 30s to early 40s, she says. In her shop, which has about 10 dealers including herself, she plays the roles of dealer and owner, which she says are two very different jobs.
As the owner, it's her job to make sure the store stays organized and her dealers have everything they need. As a dealer, she works alongside them, bringing in items and selling to clients. She still buys under the name French Twist. Often, she has people travel to France and send what they're bringing in a container full of antiques. The store sometimes has sales at their warehouse (926 W. Interstate 20) on the items in a container. Anglin travels herself sometimes, whether to France or to an antique mart. Most items Anglin brings back are French, her favorites, with a few English antiques here and there. Anglin says the mix of old and modern items is what sets her shop apart from other antique stores in the area.
"A lot of people think it's a dark and dreary place to come in, but they don't know how pretty it is," she says.
Anglin's least favorite part of her job is "restaging," which is rearranging items after one is sold. Perhaps surprisingly, an antiques-store job requires a good amount of physical labor.
"The girls will tell you, 'You can't work here unless you can lift furniture,'" she says.
"You have to love the items, and you've got to love people," Anglin adds.
Her favorite part? Seeing people happy with their homes and what they've bought. She loves creating a pretty environment.
"My husband says, 'You're in a good mood when we're in a pretty place and a bad mood when we're in an ugly place,'" Anglin laughs.
Anglin is married to Dent Anglin, who owns Anglin Tire Company. She has two daughters: Karley, a nurse married to Chandler Ditto, and Adriane, a senior at Canton Academy. Karley and Chandler have an 8-month-old son.
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