By ERIC C. RODENBERG
AntiqueWeek Associate Editor CINCINNATI — Sylvia Di Tullio Lack gets a little teary-eyed when remembering how renting a storefront for a month, turned into 30 years of being an antique dealer.
In 1979, she rented a small storefront in the Price Hill section of Cincinnati to settle an estate.
“I rented the storefront for a month,” she said, “and we sold everything out. But, then people started calling me wanting me to sell something for them. I asked the owner if I could have another month.”
Now, 30 years later, Lack is retiring.
At 77 years old, Sylvia Lack is still a whirlwind of energy. Always impeccably coifed and fashionably adorned, she has long had that special eye for the finer things of life.
Many locally shot movies used antiques as props from her store. For years, she has sold to local entertainers, politicians and judges as well as dealers, collectors and, just, the curious. Everyone was welcomed at Sylvia’s shop.
“I was taught by my parents to welcome people into the shop,” she said. “My father, he was so proud that his little Italian daughter had her own shop. I remember dad in his 80s digging the weeds out between the cracks in the sidewalk … then he’d sweep the sidewalk clean. We were just another ‘ma and pa’ antique shop, but he took pride in it.”
Sales at Sylvia’s was just what any neighborhood store should be.
“If I had been charging psychiatrist fees, we would be talking about some serious money I would have made,” she said with a laugh. “I had my regulars, people would stop in and say hello. I would try to help people out. If I didn’t know about an item, I never bluffed. I would get them in touch with the right person. People appreciated that.”
And, unlike many of today’s antique stores, Sylvia’s hours were set in stone – 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday.
“That was the old way of running a shop,” she said. “That was one of the old ways my parents taught me. When you put the time out there, 11 to 4, you could count on it. That was my word.”
But, on May 21, Sales at Sylvia will make its last sale. Starting around 10 a.m., at the store location of 1217 Rulison Avenue, good friend and 30-year business acquaintance Mark D. Mallette, owner of Mallette & Associates Auctions, will be selling more than 500 lots of antiques.
“It’s the end of an era,” Mallette said. “She always handled wonderful antiques. She has always handled the higher end of clientele; but, she was almost like Floyd the Barber in the Andy Griffith series. People would seek her out. Not only for the best in antiques, but she is one of those wonderful people who always has an ‘open ear.’ She has a great draw among people.”
And, it’s “people” who had populated her shop the past 30 years that she said she will miss the most. Sure, a lot of treasures have passed through her hands during the past three decades, but it’s the human spirit which endures the most.
“I remember my mother used to walk blocks and blocks to get to the shop,” she said of her mother, Caroline, who died at age 89 in 1999. “She always kept the shop sparkling; you know, they were from the old school.”
Neither parent had ever owned or driven a car. The family either walked, or took the bus to local destinations.
Her father, Anthony, worked at Acme Mirror, a local glass and mirror manufacturing center that was renowned for its artful craftsmanship. Mirrors were sent out from the factory to around the world, ending up in such iconic locations as the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami.
He worked with the company until he was in his late 70s.
“After retirement, when pop was in his late 70s, he took up bowling,” Sylvia said.
“I remember on his 88th birthday, he bowled nine games. He complained that night, wondering what was causing his arm to hurt … they were the ones that gave me the love and respect for the old things, and the old ways.”
And for the past 30 years, Sylvia has done her best to pass that love and respect along through her family, and patrons of Sales at Sylvia’s.
And, what of Sylvia’s future?
“I really haven’t had time to dwell on it,” she said. “I’m kind of like Scarlett O’Hara, I’ll worry about that after the days I close down. I’ve been working since I was 16, so it’s time to do those things I’ve been too busy to do. Like get in touch with some of those friends and family I haven’t seen … it’s time to loosen up, to let go, to enjoy life.”
And that will not include taking up bowling, she added.
For additional information, call 513-984-0400, or visit www.malletteandassociates.com |
