How Opa’s Vintage Gal Brings Nostalgia to Life with PostNet

In 1952, Alana’s grandfather, Jack Berg, immigrated to West Texas from Europe to start a new life for his family by joining his in-laws in an existing retail/wholesale business they had started a few years prior.  Rather quickly, Jack saw success, and the potential and opportunity to branch out, and started Jack Berg Sales Company. Once out of college, Jack’s son, Tanny, decided to partner with him, and together they grew an impressive corporation that spanned internationally for over 40 years! Alana, Tanny’s daughter, in her early years would head to the warehouses on weekends where her father and grandfather would work, and create adventures through mazes of walls made of unmarked, stacked cardboard boxes.

After many successful years in business, the market changed and new doors opened for Jack and Tanny Berg. Around 1992, Alana’s father decided it was time to close their beloved wholesale business, but the warehouses remained intact, full of incredible items dripping with nostalgia from the 1950’s thru the 1980’s. In 2022, Alana decided to take a visit to the warehouses after many years of being away, and realized she was not only opening a time capsule to her childhood, but also one filled with thousands of still-unopened boxes of toys, clothes, electronics, home goods, etc. that would blow people’s minds. She scoured the inventory and made it her mission to share these treasures with people as nostalgic as she is. From there, Alana launched her vintage e-retail store, Opa’s Vintage Gal.

As the owner of an e-commerce business, Alana has vast shipping needs. As Alana’s trusted shipping partner, PostNet is an extension of her team, ensuring these mint condition vintage items arrive perfectly. Alana also partners with PostNet for signage at vintage shows, printing marketing collateral, and leveraging the team’s design expertise to build a strong brand identity.

Read more about Alana’s journey as a small business owner and how PostNet helps her thrive:

What was it like opening a small business?

I’ve spent my entire career working in corporate America for some of the world’s most respected and innovative tech companies. These incredible opportunities have equipped me with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to launch my own venture and thrive as an entrepreneur. It wouldn’t be fair to say fear and doubt don’t creep in from time to time, but I was born to do this and I’m so proud to carry on my family legacy in a whole new way.

Any advice for a new or aspiring small business owner?

It is ok to start small. I wasn’t sure how Opa’s Vintage Gal was going to go, but I had to start somewhere to find out. I have engaged a lot of mentors who have given me priceless advice free of charge, and have managed to keep my operating expenses very low. If you keep things manageable, the pressure doesn’t mount as quickly. Focusing on progress over perfection keeps momentum going and helps you continually refine your true priorities, whereas being overly visionary or fixated on planning can sometimes miss the mark.

How did your relationship with PostNet begin, and what do you value most about that relationship?

I love my relationship with PostNet because they truly are the backbone of my success. I originally stumbled into PostNet prior to starting Opa’s Vintage Gal, when I was doing work for a cancer organization. I stopped in after an event where I was tasked with shipping artwork to winners of an art auction.The art was priceless and I knew I needed professional packaging support. I turned to the teammate behind the counter, and emphasized the importance of getting the pieces to their owners’ safely. Amber, the manager at the Far West Blvd PostNet in Austin, got it. She made it her sole responsibility to manage the packages, from carefully packaging them, to getting them where they needed to go as economically, but as safely as possible.

For weeks, I returned with art to ship and the PostNet team made my priority one of their own. We built a relationship. Some of the pieces were humongous. Some of them were tiny. One had over 50 individual pieces. It didn’t matter. I had a team I could rely on to make sure the job was done perfectly.

By the time I decided to open Opa’s Vintage Gal, it was so easy for me to choose one of my key business partners. PostNet knows me and I know them. I know I can trust them. I now receive mail there, which brings me in more often, and allows me to engage with them on other projects I’m working on.  All the things they do for me allow me to focus on my business where I can be most impactful.

As I’ve begun showcasing all this cool vintage inventory online, another channel I’ve started testing is participation at large-scale vintage shows. I have found a partner in Christian, an incredible custom graphic designer at my local PostNet, who has an eye for everything modern/retro. He has not only helped me build out signage for my shows, but has also helped me create better visual aspects for my business overall. PostNet goes above and beyond the call of duty. 

Naturally, as my business evolves, I need more services. I’m always confident in what PostNet will produce to help my brand shine. As a new business leader, price and value are very important to ensuring both short-term and long-term success. I get many offers for alternatives to PostNet, but I know I can depend on PostNet to come through and save me time, money, and headaches. 

What do you love about Opa’s Vintage Gal?

• Nostalgia.  The products I sell are incredibly cool and unique, allowing me to get entrenched in their novelty and learn about the evolution of how they’ve been manufactured over a span of many years. My favorite part of this work is the customers I get to meet.  I hear from all over the world about grasping childhoods and reminiscing about parents and grandparents. I also meet many young customers who are incredibly interested in not only historical items like mine, but the passion to tinker and fix older items.  Often, our customers buy something because it reminds them of a simpler time when they felt more in control of their lives. Connecting people back to things that make them genuinely happy is the whole reason why I’m doing this. When you have a boombox from 1980 that reminds you of your high school years, the things you used to do back then, and the cassette you used to listen to, all of that nostalgia comes with it. I can see people light up, and that in turn gives me so much satisfaction. It’s equally cool to see my items in movies, streaming or live on TV when they are procured as props for important productions.
• Making vintage attainable. A lot of the merchandise from Opa’s Vintage Gal is moderately priced vintage. Opa’s Vintage Gal carries household items from those eras that most anyone can afford.
• “If I Find.” On my website, I include a portal titled “If I Find”.  One of the unique aspects of my business is the unknown products that live within the thousands of unmarked boxes I get to open daily. I am finding everything from an array of collector-worthy calculators, yarn, lingerie, games, roller skates, die-cast cars to name a few items.  “If I find” allows me to keep track of special requests clients may have for items I am still sifting through. Over time, I am often finding items from this list, and each time it is like finding buried treasure.
• Trust. People have a hard time trusting sellers and knowing if an item is authentically vintage.  What’s unique about Opa’s Vintage Gal is that a majority of my items are unused – What I like to call MINT-age, in the original packaging. So if you’re buying sunglasses from us, not only are they vintage, but they are new, and they’ve never touched somebody else’s face. Each item comes in its original packaging so you know the authenticity, and the condition is not like anything you can get anywhere else.
• My Dad is a wealth of knowledge. I am incredibly lucky to have my dad, who is not only an exceptional father, but also happens to vividly remember everything regarding the history of our inventory.  We connect daily to talk “shop” about electronics, partnerships, the evolution of famous brands we carry.  And I’m always learning something new about our family history.
  

Where is the future going for Opa’s Vintage Gal?

The future of Opa’s Vintage Gal is exciting!  From revolutionizing vintage, to re-introducing unique pieces through modern collaboration, and engaging with production designers for movies and television, to chic themed restaurant pop-ups, we are starting to get involved in many cool projects, all incredibly unique.  Keep an eye on us!