When Christine Stulik first visited The Lady Next Door in Warren as a theater student, she didn’t have much familiarity with vintage clothing.
But the store’s original owner, Sandy Nathanson, was a veteran in the theater industry. For around 20 years, Nathanson had worked as props mistress and set decorator at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence.
The two connected over this shared background in theater, and through her repeat visits to the store, Stulik began an informal vintage education of sorts.
“I was a theater major at Northwestern [University] wanting to play dress-up,” Stulik said, “so [Nathanson] would save stuff for me and I would try stuff on, just stay in the store for four or five hours hanging out.”
Sixteen years after that first meeting, Stulik is continuing the legacy of the Water Street staple as store owner.
Nathanson opened The Lady Next Door in 1983 after retiring from Trinity, drawing the store’s name from an old friend’s phrase. Neighboring restaurant The Square Peg, which at the time existed as an antique store, was owned by Gilbert “Gil” Warren. Nathanson would sell leftover theater and film equipment from Trinity at the shop, and when asked if the inventory was his, Warren would reply that it was from “the lady next door.”
Stulik, who grew up in Barrington, worked as an actor in Chicago for a time before transitioning into estate management in New York City. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, she rented an Airbnb in Warren to be closer to family.
While revisiting the town, which she and her friends had frequented as teenagers, Stulik found that The Lady Next Door was closed and didn’t have much of an online presence. But she dug up Nathanson’s business card in her childhood bedroom and gave her a call to catch up. Nathanson, by then in her late 80s, planned to sell the store, Stulik learned, and already had a buyer lined up.
Stulik offered to help Nathanson with the store’s inventory as she prepared for the sale. But the buyer backed out, and Nathanson asked Stulik if she would be interested in taking over the business instead.
It wouldn’t be a seamless life transition for Stulik, who at the time still had her apartment and job based in New York City.
“But I felt like I would never have that opportunity again,” she recalled. “No one would ever offer me an antique store that I just loved, so I had to take it.”
In buying the business, Stulik also inherited its expansive inventory from Nathanson, who died in late 2020. Stulik is still working her way through selling some of those items but is constantly seeking out new merchandise.
When buying, Stulik primarily sticks to “true vintage” clothing, with most of the store’s inventory made during the 1930s through the 1970s.
This niche has come a long way from when Nathanson first introduced Stulik to vintage fashion, Stulik says.
“It’s a great time for vintage and antiques, especially in the younger generation,” Stulik said. “Gen Z-ers get really jazzed about old stuff. When I was jazzed about old stuff at their age, I was a weirdo, so it’s been heartening to see it getting cooler.”
And like Nathanson, Stulik plans to stick with the store for the long run.
“I’d like to be here as long as Sandy was, and then sell it to some teenager who is obsessed with vintage clothes,” Stulik said.
OWNER: Christine Stulik
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Vintage and antique clothing and collectibles shop
LOCATION: 196 Water St., Warren
EMPLOYEES: One
YEAR FOUNDED: 1983
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND