Mother Lode owner Lindsay Short stands in front of the vintage store Mother Lode located at 1005 Baxter St., on Sept. 5. After opening the store in Athens and realizing Mother Lode was located six minutes away from Clarke Central High School, Short strove to create a place where CCHS students felt welcome. “I was raised with a family who gave me so much love and was very accepting and supportive of me.” Short said. “I want to be able to offer that to anyone who comes (to Mother Lode) whether it be students or anyone else. I want to be able to share the love that I was given.” Photo by Daniel Cruz
Local business owner Lindsay Short opened vintage store Mother Lode in July as a safe space for customers in the Athens community.
In July of 2023, Lindsay Short opened vintage store Mother Lode in Athens. Located at 1005 Baxter St., half a block from Clarke Central High School, set up in booth style format with different vendors in each booth, Mother Lode offers easy access for students and community members to buy vintage clothing and furniture, as well as art.
Short’s dream to create an inclusive company for all to be able to purchase art and antiques began at a young age, as she spent many hours around such items.
“Some of my earliest memories are at auctions with (my parents). My mom would go out and buy during the week (and) my dad would take the stuff to auction, on Wednesdays usually, and sell them. Then, (I would) go and hang out while they were selling their stuff,” Short said. “About 15 years ago, I started an estate sale company in Atlanta called Bennett and Sudderth.”
Following the creation of Bennett and Sudderth, a company where buyers walk around people’s houses to purchase items, Short opened vintage store Bennett and Sudderth Mother Lode in Atlanta on Oct. 2, 2021. The name was later changed to just Mother Lode.
“We were offering off-site sales in a warehouse in Atlanta and I found one that was large enough to encompass some vendors on one side and the estate sale services on the other,” Short said. “That’s kind of how we started it. I wanted all the business to go back to the estate sale company, but I think it just took on a life of its own.”
“We were offering off-site sales in a warehouse in Atlanta and I found one that was large enough to encompass some vendors on one side and the estate sale services on the other. That’s kind of how we started it. I wanted all the business to go back to the estate sale company, but I think it just took on a life of its own.”
— Lindsay Short,
Mother Lode owner
Due to an influx of vendors, Short looked to her past in Athens and the connections she made while selling items at vintage store Agora, located at 279 E. Broad St. to open a second store. She then found Mother Lode’s current location, a building that had previously been Dollar Tree.
“We were looking for somewhere to expand. My husband and I both went to school (at the University of Georgia), and I had connections with a lot of the vendors that are here from selling at Agora about 20 years ago,” Short said. “So I reached out to them and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in doing this with us?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’”
For Mother Lode vintage clothing vendor Leah Goodwin, Mother Lode offers a second life to items that might otherwise get thrown away.
“I think that it’s a great place to shop because I work in a thrift store, so I see how many pounds of clothes that people don’t wear come in,” Goodwin said “I love that vintage gives all these clothes and homewares a whole nother life with another generation. It’s just really cool to see. Instead of going into the landfill, people style it up their own way.”
While some art and vintage pieces are more expensive for high school students, Mother Lode vendor Sierra Kirsche feels like the store is a great place for students to be inspired to create.
“Vintage and art, in general, tend to have a price range that seems absurd for younger people,” Kirsche said. “I would recommend walking through (Mother Lode) and seeing if they draw any inspiration from it, and hope they will (create) their own art as well.”
For CCHS freshman Guillermo Romero-Heesacker, wandering around the different stalls Mother Lode has to offer has been a unique experience.
“I think it’s a very interesting place, much better than the Dollar (Tree) we had before,” Romero Heesacker said. “They have many cool and interesting objects there. It’s just a blast to look around.”
With CCHS students coming to Mother Lode, Short hopes to teach them about the advantages of buying vintage.
“We want to provide an environment where students can come here,” Short said. “We live in a world that needs to buy and shop responsibly. I’m hoping that (for) students that don’t already understand the value in shopping responsibly, we can teach them the value of that, and we can provide a safe space for them as well.”
Overall, Short wants Mother Lode to be a place where people feel comfortable and everyone, including the merchandise, is safe.
“We are an inclusive community. We’re very diverse. We encourage expression of self,” Short said. “I want this to be a place where everyone feels welcome, but I also want it to be a place (where) folks respect furniture and things, (and) there’s no stealing. I just want to be a place that’s respected.”
