Ohmega Salvage

I am often asked who are our most frequent customers. I almost always answer "Homeowners". It is simple and to the point. I was thinking about this as I was sitting down to write the latest blog. It occurred to me that I could even distill that answer down to a more basic, yet essential, ingredient. Our most frequent customers are "Moms". Now, those of you who are now crying foul about opportunistic blogging on the eve of Mother's Day, well, o.k. I will give you a point on that one. And those of you suspecting a desperate attempt to cure writer's block, well, a point there as well. Still, it does not diminish or change the truth. Moms are the single largest influence on our business. We live in houses to be sure, but it is all of those "Mom's" touches that makes the house the home we all look for refuge in. Mothers may not always be the ones making the choices of the items that make up the home but it is sure that their influence is always cons...

Last weeks blog got me to thinking about all of my recent conversations with Ohmega's old friends. They ask me, as always, what's new? I have been telling them about this blog. Now, while most all of our customers are "on-line" to some degree most are not the blogger, or twitter types. And, of course, till just lately I would have been on that list as well. So once I tell them about the blog the next question most frequently asked me is "Why?" I have been trying to put it in terms of staying current, and all the other logical reasons. The trouble is that I never felt that I captured the real value of it. Ohmega Salvage brings the items of our past back into circulation to create a new future. Most of our customer have had some direct connection to these treasures. Either it was in their house growing up or in their grandparents house growing up, etc., etc. As we have gotten older an come more into the future those direct connections get fewer and fewer. Ohme...

Ohmega has been around for quite some time now. With that longevity comes the opportunity to meet some pretty interesting folks. It is one of the great pleasures of working here. On any given day, the mix of people you are likely to encounter coupled with our Berkeley, CA location might cause the uninitiated person's head to spin. Whether it is a customer, a neighbor, a scavenger, another business owner, or one of our vendors, it runs the gamut of profiles and experiences. You might even run into the occasional famous person. Who?, you might ask? Well you'll have to come down here yourself to find out. This is what America should be: a broad cross section of folks who come here to experience the history and variety that is us. Today it was one of our vendors and old friends. Dave Bertz is the one responsible for our having our popular collection of statues and Buddhas. An old time antiques hound and a full time character. He has been traveling to far away places and bringing th...

Friday is the first day of my work week. As I first walk through the gates in the morning I get to experience what has come in while I was gone. Since we are open 7 days a week I can't be there for everything as it comes though the gates. Even after working all of these years here it is still a favorite time of mine. It comes closest to what, I imagine, is a lot of our customers reactions to when they come through the gates. Maybe it is the first time ever or maybe it has only been since yesterday there is almost always something new. It is when the items we have taken in start to tell you their stories. The time when an item starts to become a treasure in your mind. How is this possible you might ask? Well I believe that the time, energy, care, and even passion that were expended in making the architectural pieces and other items we take in leaves a lasting impression. It is there for all to see if we only give it a chance to be seen. That's why we are here to give you folks o...

With apologies to E. M. Forster and the Merchant/Ivory film it is the only appropriate title for this week's blog. The Ohmega crew spent this last week in the rarefied air on the 52ND floor of the Bank of America building in San Francisco. Those of you in the know recognize that location as the former Carnelian Room restaurant and bar. Opened in August, 1970 and named for the Carnelian Granite that adorns the 555 California Street building. This restaurant was old school fancy. You did not show up with out a reservation and a jacket for the "Gentleman". Jeans and sneakers just would not do. Hey, "old school" is our stock and trade so you know we just had to go get this stuff. So we made our reservations with general contractor, who kindly relaxed the dress code, and off we went. This place was big. There was all of this tall carved oak paneling and doors. Then there was a couple of big wine racks and trim and miscellaneous other items and......well....only o...

The sun has been out quite a bit lately. All of us at Ohmega have been adjusting to the new longer hours to match the new longer days. Then there's the sneezing and itching eyes. Is it just me?.....umm never mind. We have quite a bit to do around here when the weather starts to turn for the better. Just like the rest of you we do some spring cleaning around here. Late Spring, Summer, and early Fall are our busiest times here at Ohmega. As I was writing last week, we are always having to make room for new things. Spring increases the pace. With the Spring also comes a certain anticipation as well. We begin to get e-mails, calls and visitors asking about our services and can we help them with their projects coming up. We hope to get a feel on how the building season might shape up. We start to build our hopes as it has been a long Winter and a slow economy. All of us "Ohmegans" are optimists I think. When I say "Ohmegans" I include all of our customers and contrac...

The yard is looking different this week. Truthfully, most weeks it looks different. This is not an accident. As we receive new items and send others on to their new homes we have to play what amounts to a large, 3-D version, of "Tetris". Those of you who have played the game of arranging falling blocks on their computer or cell phone know the challenge. Ohmega's version often involves gloves, heavy lifting, pallet jacks, forklifts and, well, you get the idea. This last week seems like a double overtime session of it except that the real "Tetris" doesn't leave you so sore you have a hard time moving. As you know, the game speeds up as it goes along and more blocks come down. Now that Spring has arrived, Ohmega's version also picks up and more items come our way and go on to those of you out there. Whether they know it or not, our customers come in playing their own version of the game as well. In their version, they look for just the right item to arrange...