Many people who adore vintage run into a little bit of a problem: “you can't buy everything and own everything,” says Tori Hahn of Pip Home, a vintage and secondhand goods shop based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Living in California at the time, Tori realized that her vintage hobby wasn’t as readily available in San Diego as it was in New York City. When she moved to New York City for a job with a major architecture firm, Tori was hit with the motivation to take her interest in vintage to the next level.

“New York just inspires everybody,” she said. Noticing a budding community devoted to vintage, Tori was looking for a way to participate in something she always wanted to do. The circular movement of “secondhand goods and vintage furniture” was something she always had a deep appreciation for and starting her own shop gave her an opportunity to share that feeling with others. “I thought I could make vintage and secondhand goods more accessible to more people.”

For Tori, her passion for vintage comes from different angles. First and foremost, she’s “really passionate about sustainability,” and secondhand shopping allows objects to live more than one life. Beyond its environmental benefits, Tori has discovered that “every piece has a story and when you're out and you're buying, you meet a lot of great people.”

There’s a lot of competitive industries, but vintage selling is not one of them.

“I love how open people are with loving that you have a shop and being supportive. I think that's really special.”

She approaches sourcing with that same love of community and personal touch. She thinks about what she would want in her home, or her friends or even her brother. She’s not bound by one era or design style.

“I would like to say proudly that it is a kind of an eclectic mix. It is kind of something for everybody. I don't just focus on one thing. I think that's something that I'm trying to embrace rather than see as a flaw.”

Her shop has grown from simply smalls to furniture with an inventory that’s added to nearly every weekend at this point. Whether selling on Instagram or in a studio she’s recently leased, Tori is working to make Pip Home her dream come true and a shop where the “character” of a piece is the reason why you buy.