Approaching the used furniture warehouse in the neighborhood of Botanikos, we were not sure what we would encounter. First we passed vulcanizers and car washes, then we found ourselves in an old neighborhood kitchen and right next to it we saw – out of nowhere – young employees carrying wooden carved furniture, similar to those that adorned Athenian houses in the 50s and 60s . We were in the right place, we had just arrived at Grandma’s House.
Entering the warehouse, it was like walking into a time capsule of memories made of wood, porcelain, crystal and all kinds of materials. There was furniture from living rooms in which you could easily imagine the movie stars of the old Greek cinema drinking their coffee. There were intricately carved objects, harlequins and faceless dolls, bought to adorn bedside tables and 60s shops. At times it was almost like smelling mothballs from your own grandparents’ house. In fact, those who have a weakness for the Harry Potter universe would most likely bring to mind, looking like us from the threshold, the wishing room, the moving roof that appears to those looking for something they really need.
“It’s a shame to give it away”
“We will be celebrating ten years soon, you came just in time for the anniversary,” says the owner, Katerina Dimitropoulou, who is waiting for us inside. The cordiality with which she guides us through the five furniture-filled floors is the secret of her success. After all, this is what some of the 160,000 friends who follow Grandma’s House on social media write in their reviews. Along, of course, with its unexpectedly low prices.
Mrs. Dimitropoulou was a fan of retro and old objects from a young age. She often wandered around open-air markets in Monastiraki, until in a time of need she decided to open a small shop initially in Metaxourgio and sell her own furniture as well as furniture that relatives and friends didn’t want. He remembers that then, at the beginning, he had also found a Red Cross trunk next to a garbage can, which he collected.
Those who pass through this door always return. Almost all are regulars who will return to look for the next treasure. “I’ve had a customer put off shopping because they loved all the furniture and couldn’t stop. We have sent merchandise to the province, a lady received it and the color ended up not going with her living room. We returned the money and he returned it to us.” Now, Grandma’s House has contacts all over Greece. Sometimes they are home owners who will sell their contents, other times she will look for furniture even abroad. Tomorrow, as he tells us, he leaves for France. “When I go to people’s houses, they tell me stories about their furniture. Sometimes I prevent people from selling me things. “It’s a shame to give it away”, I tell them.
The warehouse was once a confectionery workshop. It is huge, but it didn’t take long for Ms. Dimitropoulos to fill its floors. He built the space with a lot of personal work and help from friends. “I’m sick of the shop,” he says. In Grandma’s House there are furniture and objects from the 30s to the late 70s. None are restored here, on the contrary, any customer who wishes to remodel it based on their own taste, which is why their costs are low. While we are guided around the space, Mrs. Dimitropoulou stops at everything that catches her attention. Among countless chairs and tables, she spots 1950s baby carriages, an old school-style desk, which she tells me she intended to give to her son. There are cinema reels of Harry Clynn films and figurines of colored rhinos.
Rare and loved
Occasionally, within the five floors, customers will also discover small, collectible treasures. Once, a young man found a rare Doors record. “This one here makes 2,000 euros”, he had told her, and she simply asked him for two euros, which is how much all the vinyl records cost. “If you find something rare, I’ll just be happy with your joy,” he says. Another time, he found a teacher’s diploma from the 1940s forgotten in a piece of furniture. “I posted it on the Internet, not to sell, but because I liked it, and his granddaughter called us. “It’s my grandfather’s,” he said. She came with her ID, took it and learned its history.”
An antique dealer once told me that the most difficult thing for a person in the profession is to overcome his own love for objects. After all, he cannot be attached to everything continuously for a long time. “It’s difficult,” Katerina says when I ask her. Besides the fact that her house is full of vintage furniture, she also has a personal warehouse with things she can’t part with. “It has happened that our employees have hidden something from me because I can’t resist the urge to take it. “Don’t let Katerina see it”, they say”, he says with a laugh and shortly encourages us to tour the place by ourselves. We are thus left in a nostalgic world with rough and smooth surfaces, full of personal stories and memories of past times. And who knows, maybe we’ll find what we need in some corner.
Granny’s House is located at 5-7 Servion Street, Votanikos / grannyshouse.gr
