Vintage Treasures Find New Life at Shabby Abbie's

Fabulous. It’s the first word likely to pop into your head when you walk through the door at Shabby Abbie’s.

The boutique opened at 6616 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. in April, and business has been steady ever since, owner Helen Kinyon said.

The Lutz native moved to Land O’ Lakes about four years ago with her husband of 42 years, Bob. The couple retired from their green cleaning product manufacturing business, and tried doing retiree things, “but we couldn’t catch many fish, so we had to do something else,” Kinyon said.

Refinishing and repurposing antiques was a hobby for her, and with the extra time on her hands, Kinyon found she had something else on her hands: too many pieces. So she began selling them at antique shops.

Then she saw the Land O’ Lakes Boulevard location open up.

The business-savvy artist did her homework, and snatched up the yellow building—and Shabby Abbie’s was born.

Kinyon travels around the country to find the store’s treasures: Savannah for stained glass from England, estate sales for Depression-era pieces.

She tends to focus on vintage pieces from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, but also has plenty of retro pieces, she said.

But Kinyon doesn’t just dust off her finds and put them on a shelf for sale. She puts extensive labor into turning trash into treasure—making the old new again, giving new life to relics of the past. 

This is not a wipe it down and sell it shop,” she said. “We like to repurpose things.”

We, as in Kinyon and the seven local artisans she brought in to sell their pieces at Shabby Abbie’s alongside her own. Her “Shabby girls” each have a space in the shop, making it several small businesses inside one business, Kinyon said.

Kinyon has an eye for antiques, and knows their value, she said, but the prices you find at Shabby Abbie’s won’t compare to those you see on sites like eBay. She prices items to move, not to make a killing, she said.

A vintage necklace that appraises for $400 is priced at about $100 in the store right now. 

When you fall in love with a table or a desk, you don’t have to hold your breath while you peek at the price tag. The prices on the hand-restored pieces are comparable to big-box store finds. (I found gorgeous end tables for less than Target’s particleboard versions.)

The shop’s motto is finding fabulous for less, after all.

Prices are firm, though. Kinyon won’t haggle on prices, but the shop does offer 20 percent off furniture sales frequently, she said.

And if you have furniture you want refinished, Kinyon does that, too. She will match wallpaper, other pieces—whatever you can imagine.

"They can bring me anything and I’ll make it look like it belongs in there,” she said. “I create what they envision.”

So just who is Abbie?

"Abbie is the whimsical proprietress," Kinyon laughed.

Shabby Abbie’s latest 20 percent off furniture sale runs Sept. 6-8. Check out the store's Facebook page to keep up with new items and future sales.