When making the drive from Uptown to Downtown New Orleans, many routes take you via Calliope Street, parallel with the Pontchartrain Expressway. Here, the cement grey of the expressway and the blighted landscape underneath paint a harsh reality of urban life. The grand beauty of towering oak trees along St. Charles Avenue disappears. But not for long. Just as quickly as the drive grows somber, it reemerges as a bright red storefront on the Uptown riverside corner of Magazine Street. This is the Merchant House; a formerly vacant warehouse in the Lower Garden District now serving as a shopping emporium for vintage and antique lovers. Though it’s been around since 2018, new renovations and added food and beverage next door have made it a destination unto itself. I spoke with the owner, Rosa Dunlap, to learn more.
When and why did you create the Merchant House? Rosa: December 2018 marked the first open call for merchants. It was a unique point in time in developing the building where we could open space for creative entrepreneurs and generate commerce inside a vacant Lower Garden District warehouse. By the next year, the evolution manifested itself as a full-time retail shop and guild of independent, passionate, and creative dealers. Over the years more than 50 small brands and businesses have shared space in our modern antiques shop, a gathering place where we swap stories with customers turned friends or share the lore of scoring the latest treasure.
Have you always been interested in antiques and/or entrepreneurship? Which excites you more? Rosa: Hard to choose, but decorative arts have been a passion since childhood! Many of our merchants have wide and varied experience in interiors, floral design, hospitality and more. My first career was with luxury jewelry brands, directing the distribution and consulting with retail partners, which informed my retail experience. In working with the incredible estate jewelry collection of Fred Leighton NY, I learned a great deal about the motifs and styles of great design eras that easily translate to furnishings.
Where do you and your merchants source your best finds? Rosa: Surely, I cannot divulge! Our merchants have their own unique methods which include local, regional, and international sources. Personally, one of my favorite buyers is my mom. My parents have an antiques store in Kansas called Mill Creek Antiques, now in its 50th year, and while she claims she has retired, she buys a lot of the early and provincial farmhouse antiques that I love from the Midwest.
Can you tell us about the spaces within Merchant House available for event rental? Rosa: Merchant Hall is our large open event space for commerce and connection and is adjacent to a large patio and additional long blank canvas of a room. All are great to design extraordinary experiences, showcase a brand, or gather to support any initiative.
Follow Instagram for the latest arrivals @merchanthouse.co or visit the website at merchanthouse.co. Merchant Hall rental email: thehall@merchanthouse.co.
Meet Penn, Shop Talk Blogger
Penn Larocci is a born and raised New Orleanian. After graduating from Tulane University she lived in NYC for nine years working in sales and marketing at an investment bank. When she missed New Orleans more than she could stand, she moved back home, met her husband and started a family. She’s now raising two rambunctious little boys and spending her free time on environmental sustainability projects.
