(Photo: Brad Paris)

You sell mostly American furniture from the thirties and forties. Have recent Deco-design trends in film and fashion increased demand?
No, I see the same people week after week. It can be totally crazy; people fighting over furniture.

I thought that only happened in high-end clothing boutiques.
It gets a bit ugly at times. I’m shocked by the chutzpa and sense of entitlement that some people walk in with.

Newly refinished furniture arrives each Saturday. How do customers get the best pieces?
People call on Friday to ask what’s coming in. I’ve seen people peering in the windows hours before we open at noon. The line starts at 11:30.

Are you in love with anything?
There was this Heywood-Wakefield dining-room set that we refinished in dark lacquer. It sold to a couple moving to Hong Kong. I’m loving these German Bauhaus-y lamps by Christian Dell.

Where else do you shop for furniture?
I totally have Ikea things. I have stuff from Room & Board. I have Breuer chairs I bought on eBay.

The owner opened a store called Adelaide on Greenwich Street. What’s there?
More Danish modern, fifties things, sixties lighting.

I love the accessories—decanters, cocktail sets, Deco frames …
Yeah, totally. I got my dad this beautiful thirties harmonica. He keeps it in his pocket all the time.

Related:

• Archive: “Ask Shop Clerk”
• Articles by Denise Penny
• Table of Contents: Sep 18, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!