HATFIELD — Sarah Xiques hopes that her recently opened showroom at Rosa Rost Antiques & Home will give customers ideas for how both new and vintage furnishings can be used.
“We want to help them create homes that are functional, comfortable and beautiful,” says Xiques, who brings an extensive interior design experience to the new business. “There’s nothing cookie-cutter here.”
Describing the interiors business at 10 West St. as “more decorative than antique,” the large furniture gallery displays upholstered custom-made pieces alongside numerous, one-of-a-kind items that she obtains from auctions and estate sales.
“We set up different vignettes so people can see how they can put things together,” Xiques says. “We want this to be experiential.”
In the great room, where a fireplace is set against the wall, are upholstered furniture, such as a library chair and swivel chair, manufactured by Lee Industries. This American-made classic furniture, as Xiques calls it, can be customized with imported European fabrics and fills.
Nearby are European antiques, such as an English cupboard, a classic French arm table, and two French monastery tables from 1890, one 8 feet long and another even longer, at 11.5 feet. The oversized pieces could be used in a dining room or as a console.
“You don’t want all new stuff in your home, that’s what makes a house feel good, functional, all of those things,” Xiques said.
There is a department store table that a designer might use for a kitchen counter by installing a marble slab on top, or to create a kitchen island.
In each vignette, Xiques also has vintage rugs, lights and lamps and antique art, many dog and horse portraits, and handmade goods from France and the United Kingdom
“It felt like it all complements the antiques,” Xiques said.
While prices vary, tables range from $125 to $4,000, chairs can be $3,000 or more, and many of the rugs can be had for under $1,000. Xiques said items are not cheap, but also not high end.
“Comparing to other markets, we’re very affordable,” Xiques said. “If I get a piece for a reasonable price, I will sell it for a reasonable price.”
Getting up at 5 a.m to begin perusing online auctions for finds, Xiques often tries to hunt down European pine and oak, which she said have different tones than American made wood furniture.
“I pick every single piece, spend a lot of time scouring auctions and work with importers, looking for things that fit,” Xiques said. “Mornings are spent finding pieces and evenings are spent trying to get them.”
She is willing to go up and down the eastern seaboard and ventured as far as Chicago to pick up estates, working with auctioneers who she trusts and can verify the provenance of a piece.
Led by her son, Jack Xiques, a small team heads out with a van to Atlanta, Philadelphia, Maine and New Hampshire to bring back the items.
“Jack and his small team pick the stuff up,” Xiques said. “We often have to buy multiple pieces from each place to make it worthwhile.”
Xiques, who lives in Whately, came to the area about five years ago from the Hudson Valley area of New York. Her clients include other shops, New York City folks and even a buyer from Ralph Lauren who told her that one of the pieces will be used in a spring advertising campaign.
The brick-and-mortar store is an outgrowth of a business that Xiques began online in spring 2024, making sales through Facebook to numerous out-of-town clients.
“Through networking, and social media, we were growing, really, really fast,” Xiques said.
As the business expanded, it outgrew a 2,500-square-foot warehouse in Whately, though she still has the space for storage there. The new store space, most recently housed a Lumber Liquidators, includes 7,100 square feet, of which 5,900 square feet is for the showroom, with skylights in the ceiling.
“The skylights really sold us on the space. You can see the color of the wood and the fabrics in the natural light,” Xiques said.
Another 1,200 square feet workroom is where pieces are cleaned up and readied for the showroom floor.
Xiques credits Anita Eliason, senior business adviser at the western region of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Corp., for guiding her through the process, offering skills for accounting and other back end business tips, and Common Capital for providing the loan that allowed her to start up.
Before opening, she worked with Jess Marsh of Hired Hands Signs for the graphics and signs and McKenney Hearth & Home for the fireplaces.
While Xiques said being in downtown Northampton may have been preferable, the storefront she shares with Danco Modern in the Ten West Plaza is ideal for accessibility because it is just a few hundred feet from the Northampton line and is also immediately off Interstate 91.
“This feels like it’s a destination for shopping for your house,” she said.
Xiques explains that the business takes its name from her grandmother, who she never knew, but has been told she closely resembles.
“Everyone said we looked exactly the same, but I only knew her through a vintage photograph,” Xiques said.
That sepia-tone image of Rost will be placed on packages for candles she is having made with Todd Greene of Aromatic Fillers, to be sold at the store, and she is looking to collaborate with local craftspeople on other projects, such as custom mirrors and dinnerware.
The home goods already includes handmade ceramics from the United Kingdom and a line of dinnerware from Belgium.
Rosa Rost has a presence on Instagram and Facebook, with a website likely to launch later in October.
Typically open Wednesday through Sunday, a grand opening will take place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Xiques understands that many of those who come to the store may spend hours, or even days, before deciding to make a purchase.
“We want it to be comfortable and inviting,” Xiqaues said. “It is a big decision.”
“I love talking to people, meeting with people,” Xiques said. “This is so much more fun to get to help so many more people.”