The Old Flamingo

Address: 3474 South 2300 East

Telephone: 801-274-3474

Website: instagram.com/theoldflamingo

District: Millcreek

 

“I love The Old Flamingo. There’s just nothing that I would rather be doing than what I’m doing now.” For Paula Murray, that affection began long before she owned The Old Flamingo, a co-operative of vendors in Millcreek. Raised in San Diego as one of six girls, Paula grew up with horses and the beach nearby, later working in retail and running a couple of stores in the valley. She had always been an enthusiastic collector: vintage clothing, unusual handbags, dishes, and whatever else happened to catch her eye.

When Paula moved to Salt Lake in 2015, following her son who had attended the University of Utah, she expected the move to be temporary. Instead, she fell in love with Utah. Her daughter eventually followed, and before long, the entire family had made Salt Lake home.

Only a few months after arriving, Paula discovered The Old Flamingo. “The first time I walked in, I was hooked.” She became a regular customer, then rented a booth, filling it initially with pieces she had brought from California and later with finds from estate sales and other sources around Utah.

The Old Flamingo originally opened in 2011. In 2019, after several changes in ownership and years of knowing the shop first as a customer and then a vendor, Paula became an owner. Shirley Waters, another longtime vendor, joined her as a partner, and together they guided the shop through the pandemic. There were moments Paula genuinely wondered whether they would survive. Shirley has since retired, leaving Paula at the helm of a business she once could not have imagined owning.

The Old Flamingo operates as a collective of “flamingos,” each with a distinctive eye and an individual business within the larger shop. Some specialize almost entirely in vintage pieces, while others mix old and new. Original artwork lines the hallway, inside is vintage clothing, records, furniture, lamps, handbags, glassware, and an ever-changing assortment of objects difficult to categorize. Depression era uranium glass can disappear as soon as they arrive, while beautifully restored solid-wood furniture continues to find new homes. Trends cycle, Paula has learned. Something impossible to sell today may suddenly be coveted again a year from now.

That constant evolution is part of the pleasure of walking through the shop. Vendors have keys and regularly arrive before opening or after closing to rearrange their spaces, rotate inventory, and bring in new finds. “Even when I come in in the next morning, my reaction is, "Oh my gosh. This is amazing." On a busy Saturday, Paula sometimes watches customers carry purchases to the counter that she did not even realize were in the store.

Many of the sellers have been at The Old Flamingo for years, some from the beginning. They each work the front desk one day a week and one weekend a month, developing their own relationships with customers. “They’re the ones that really do the heavy lifting,” Paula said. “I just do the directing.” She credits them with much of The Old Flamingo’s success and takes pride in how rarely anyone leaves. “It sounds so cliché, but everybody’s a family.” Paula laughs that she has filled in for someone only to have a shopper arrive, discover their favorite vendor was not there, and announce that they would simply return the following week.

Paula eventually gave up her own booth to make room for another vendor, although she has hardly given up collecting. In fact, everyone teases that she may be their best customer. When someone brings in something they know Paula will find irresistible, they have been known to place it strategically where she cannot miss it. “I can’t go in that store without buying something.”

For years, Paula balanced ownership of The Old Flamingo with her work as a legal assistant for a downtown attorney. Eventually, maintaining both became impossible. She chose the shop. Giving it her full attention, she said, changed everything. At one point, when Shirley was preparing to leave, Paula considered selling too. She could not go through with it. The thought of someone taking over who might not understand what made The Old Flamingo special troubled her too much. Someday, when she finally does retire, Paula already knows what she wants. The shop will pass to someone from within its own circle. “It has got to stay with people that love this store.”