I've gone from eBay selling for my mum to owning my own vintage shop

A former Liverpool student has gone from selling on eBay for her mum to owning her own vintage shop.

Megan Brophy is about to open Serendipity Vintage on Aigburth Road this Saturday (May 23), three years after launching her business while she was still studying.

The 23-year-old, who lives minutes away from the shop, fell in love with vintage and sustainable fashion when her mum enlisted her help with a wardrobe clear-out.

Megan said:

“She used to do some eBay selling and got me into Vinted and Depop as well. Then because I had more free time than her, I’d do it for her and other family and friends would give me things to sell for them.

“I started my own online selling and then opened my first stall in Red Brick Market while I was in my second year, because you don’t have to man your own stall so it was perfect for me.”

Megan says she had no plans to turn it into a full-time career – she was actually studying physical geography at the University of Liverpool with an idea of going into the renewable energy and sustainability sector.

“I am still interested in those things, but I just leaned into the sustainable side of geography and sustainable fashion,” she explains.

When she launched her Red Brick business, it was a chance meeting on a trip to Italy which helped Megan find unique one-off pieces to stock.

“I went to a fleamarket in Rome when I was on holiday and just started chatting to one of the stallholders. Obviously there was a bit of a language barrier, but he became a contact over there and he now sources all the designer pieces so everything’s quite high end and good quality.

“I’ll get a delivery whenever I need new stock, usually about once a month, and it comes in kilogrammes so I get about 50kg shipped over each time.

“I really want to get into selling larger sizes, and everything from Italy tends to be small, so I do have a few contacts in the UK as well that I’ve built up since I’ve been in Red Brick to keep it more mixed.

“I’ll often go to different wholesalers at the weekends and rummage through the big warehouses to get what I want.”

Megan says she’d always thought about opening a stand-alone shop one day, but it came sooner than expected.

“It was more a long-term idea, something I’d maybe do when I was 50, but you just have conversations with people and you start thinking, why not just try?

“I actually live in Aigburth, and I went to Bellerive so I always used to walk past this shop on the way home from school.

“It was an electrical contractors but it’s been closed for 18 years so when I picked up the keys in March it needed everything doing – new windows, new shutters, painting and fitting out, so I’ve had lots of help from family and friends getting it ready.

“Now it’s about to open I can’t quite believe it, and I think it won’t feel real until I make the first sale in there.

“It does take a lot of time and effort to get every piece ready because they all need washing and steaming, they might need buttons replacing or sewing, and the sizing can vary so I have to measure everything.

“Most of the time it’s just me doing all of that, but it’s so enjoyable, that’s how it’s turned into a full-time job and this shop.

“The most exciting part has been putting everything in ready to go. When I look at it all again I just realise how good the pieces are, I’ve got some amazing stock and I’m just excited to share it with everyone.”