An interior shot of Phantastic Phinds.

by Kevin Dicciani

Shopping at Phantastic Phinds is what owner David Bilardi calls “an experience.”

The consignment shop, previously located in Erdenheim, relocated to 8219 Germantown Ave. in June. Bilardi purchased the establishment in 2012 from Angela Sipe, who started the business in 2004 and originally ran it from her garage before she expanded to the Bethlehem Pike location. In 2015, it was included on Philly Voice’s list of Top 5 Philly-area antique shops.

“We offer an experience when you come in – we don’t want you to just come in and buy something,” Bilardi said. “Whether you buy something or not, to us that doesn’t matter – it’s the experience you have when you walk in the door.”

Boasting a revolving and eclectic inventory, with items that can range from an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic plaque to a sofa from Crate and Barrel, Bilardi said Phantastic Phinds is not your typical vintage store. Although the inside of the shop is brimming with furniture, smallwares, collectibles and more, the shop is also overflowing with atmosphere, exuding both nostalgia and a sense of history.

“We have a large flat screen TV behind the sales counter that plays nothing but vintage TV shows,” Bilardi said. “We have an area for our furniture products that has a loop of video that shows you how to use them. We occasionally burn pure resin incense. We have music, playing big band during the weekdays and disco on the weekends. We see people in the store, of all ages, from the 20s to the 70s, dancing and singing, and we love that.”

Bilardi said he had already been thinking about relocating the shop to Chestnut Hill when one day he received a call from the Chestnut Hill Business Association. It told him that numerous merchants had requested that Phantastic Phinds open on the Avenue before inviting him to check out a few locations. Then, a week later, Bilardi received word of an opening in the historical Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5205 building, built in 1859 and designated a historical building in 1966 by the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

As soon as he saw the building, Bilardi said he “knew it was a perfect match.”

“Our building is fabulous, and it’s the reason the Chestnut Hill Historical Society exists today,” he said, referencing the Committee for the Preservation of Historic Buildings in Chestnut Hill that Ann Spaeth helped form in 1966 to save to the building and which later became the CHHS.

The historic nature of the building persuaded Bilardi to design Phantastic Phinds as a “concept store.” While configuring its layout, he said they played with the building’s history, such as keeping the original floors from the 1800s and matching the interior of the shop with the historic color palette of Chestnut Hill. As an additional treat for customers, he said they offer complimentary vintage penny candies, like old wax soda bottles and saucer wafers.

“We didn’t want to be just another store that you walked in, somebody was behind the counter, and you walked out, and you thanked them,” he said.

After officially opening the store on the Avenue this past summer, Bilardi said the reception from the business community as well as the residents left him “enthralled.”

“It was very supportive, it was very welcoming, and once we opened up we found that it was not like a typical business community where everybody views each other as the enemy,” Bilardi said. “Everybody up here views each other as one in the same and tries to help each other. People will recommend us, we will recommend them, and even though we’re kind of in the same type of business, there’s none of that animosity up here.”

Being located in Chestnut Hill has afforded the shop numerous benefits, Bilardi said. Not only is there a good turnover product-wise, but he said that some of the items that come through the door are incredibly rare. He said when they first opened, they received a hieroglyphic plaque from the 25th Egyptian dynasty that dates back to the year 700 BC. Currently, they have a parachute from the Hell’s Angels of World War II with the actual war receipt and an original “Gunsmoke” lunch box from the 1950s.

“We’ve always gotten a lot of cool things in, but up here people really tend to really give us some very cool items for us to consign,” he said.

In addition to its smallwares and furniture, Phantastic Phinds has been a stockist since 2005 for Annie Sloan chalk paint – an all-purpose paint that can be used to paint wood, furniture, fabric and glass, practically everything except ceramics. With the next closest locations being Newtown Square, Delaware, and Haddonfield, N.J., the shop is the premier stockist for the paints in the Philadelphia-area.

One feature of Phantastic Phinds that helps differentiate itself from similar shops is its website, PhantasticPhinds.com. Bilardi said that all of the items in the shop are available for purchase on the website. He said that when a specific item is sold, it is taken directly off the site.

“Every single thing down to a $2 item is on our website,” he said. “We catalog every single item, we research every single item, and then put it online with its weight, its size and photos.”

Another way the shop stands out is through its resale rewards program. By downloading Resale Rewards, an app that is available on Apple or Google Play, Phantastic Phinds will track all purchases made at the shop and reward users with a coupon after they spend a certain amount of dollars. He said the program is the consignment shop’s way of giving back to people.

The reciprocal relationship between the community and Phantastic Phinds is important for Bilardi. After deciding to relocate to Chestnut Hill, he said that residents and merchants from the neighborhood visited his store in Erdenheim while it was still open and congratulated him on the move. For this reason, among others, he is happy that Phantastic Phinds can call Chestnut Hill its home.

“It’s a true community that we were extremely welcomed into, and it’s wonderful, just wonderful,” he said.

Phantastic Phinds is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 267-428-5459 or visit PhantasticPhinds.com.

Kevin Dicciani can be reached at kevin@chestnuthilllocal or 215-248-8819.