Vintage market heading to Martindale

By Wesley Gardner
LPR Editor

A new vintage market is coming to downtown Martindale, bringing residents an opportunity to shop for a wide variety of items just before the holidays.
The market – dubbed Max’s Haus Vintage Market in Martindale – will be held monthly, with this month’s events being held from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 19, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 20, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 21. The market will be held in the warehouse behind Good Things Grocery — 404 Main St., Martindale, 78655.
According to Norma Garvey, who’s spearheading the event, the market will feature a plethora of items, including furniture, lamps, rugs, jewelry, vintage clothing, handbags and more. Garvey also noted one of the main aims of holding the events is to give vendors an opportunity to showcase their merchandise.
“The vision is to have it be a marketplace for people to shop but also be a good resource for dealers from Austin, San Marcos, San Antonio, New Braunfels,” said Garvey, noting the market would even have goats for attendees to interact with. “It’s not like anything that I’ve seen as a market.”
Garvey also said Thursdays when the market is open will be dubbed first-dibs parties and will feature music and wine.
“It’s $10 to get in, but you get 10 percent off of anything you buy on first-dibs night, and a portion of that $10 admission goes to the city of Martindale,” she said.
According to Garvey, the idea for opening the market has been on her mind for quite some time.
“This is something I’ve wanted to do, wanted to do, wanted to do, but I didn’t know where it would be,” said Garvey. “I’ve always loved Martindale – always. I used to come here a lot.”
Garvey said she was having lunch with a friend at Martindale River Café when she was told about a warehouse across the street that had recently become available to lease.
“It was sort of twilight and I was walking around out [behind the warehouse] and I saw the river back there,” said Garvey, noting the moment felt like serendipity. “It was so beautiful.”
Four days later, Garvey called the property owner and negotiated the lease. Garvey said she’s had a little more than a month so far to prepare for the grand opening, but she said she’s confident everything will fall into place.
“Really, I just jump off and jump in and see what happens,” said Garvey, noting she did the same thing when she opened Max’s Haus Mercantile in New Braunfels 18 years ago.
“I started that business in 2002 as a single mom. I had $500 and no business plan, no dealers, no vendors, no nothing.
“I just knew that I needed to do it. I really did. It’s way back off the street, so everyone told me ‘Don’t do this. It’s never going to work,’ and I said, ‘Yes it will. I’ll make it work.’ Well, the cars were driving by all day, every day and I was wringing my hands. Then one day I thought, ‘I know, we’ll just pitch a bunch of stuff on the lawn’ – lawn furniture, plants, and when we did, they started coming in.”
Garvey said the plan is to open the market on the third weekend of each month, though she noted next month’s event would be held on Dec. 3-5.
More than anything, Garvey said she appreciates all the people around her that helped turn the market from a dream into reality.
“It’s like a collective soul of people coming together to make this happen,” she said.
For more information on market days in Martindale, events and happenings, follow Max’s Haus on Instagram at @maxshaus.