For years Madison Lusher helped her father, Stephen Lusher, run Designer & Vintage Market at 3 Queen Street in Hamilton.

Now, the two have sold off much of their antique stock and moved further up the block to focus on vintage clothing.

Ms Lusher opened The Vintage Shop earlier this month above Kentucky Fried Chicken on Queen Street.

“My father works for me now,” she said proudly.

Mr Lusher appeared happy enough with that.

“I don’t get paid, but I work for her,” he said shrugging.

Ms Lusher sells Harley Davidson jackets and a Diane Von Furstenberg classic wrap dress, jewellery and vinyl records, but the hot commodities are items from the old Hamilton department stores H A & E Smith’s and Trimingham’s.

“We get a lot of repeat tourists who come in and say they have not been to Bermuda in 20 years, and they remember Smith’s and Trimingham’s,” Ms Lusher said.

At 29, she can just remember Trimingham’s, which used to be where HSBC on Reid Street is today.

“My main Trimingham’s memory is at Christmas time,” she said. “Everything was so grand and beautiful.”

She plans to lay out some ugly Christmas sweaters from Trimingham’s old stock, closer to the holidays.

She is amused to find herself now explaining the old stores to younger customers.

“Some of them have never heard of Trimingham’s and Smith’s,” she said. “I had to explain to someone the other day that the stores were where HSBC is today.”

One of her offerings includes an intricately beaded purse from Smith’s, made around 1910.

“The label is painted on, rather than sewn on,” she said. “It is amazing because the beads are all intact. There is also a tiny mirror in it.”

She also has a Burberry men’s blazer from Smith’s.

“Some of the things I find still have the Trimingham’s or Smith’s price tags on them,” she said. “I even have Smith’s hangers.”

Years ago, she started by buying a few cedar-handled purses made in Bermuda to flip in her father’s store.

“They sold like that,” she said snapping her fingers. “They are coming back into style. I figured if everyone still loves Trimingham’s and Smith’s stuff, it is all out there. I just have to find it for my customers.”

Ms Lusher got her passion for old things from her father. When she was little, he would take her to auctions and house sales.

“One of the first things I bought at an auction was a record player and a box of records,” she said. “They were cool.”

Another early find for her was a funky Louis Vuitton doctor’s bag.

“I got it for the right price,” she said. “That was probably my first larger flip, where I thought, ‘I am on to something’.”

She loves the thrill of the hunt.

“We find things all over the place,” she said. “We thrift. We go to auctions. We go to sales.”

With this reiteration of the family business, she hopes to focus more on consignment.

“If someone has a wonderful item that they do not know what to do with, they can extend the life of it by selling it through us,” she said.

“If you buy one piece of second-hand anything a year, you decrease your carbon footprint by 20 per cent.”

She saw her store as an opportunity for people in Bermuda who love to have nice, funky stuff, but be unique at the same time.

Princes range from $5 to $5,000.

When Ms Lusher is not working, she loves to go overseas to shop for vintage items.

“Toronto is probably my favourite place to thrift shop,” she said.

It was the Canadian city that inspired her to commission a mural on their entryway to Queen Street.

“In Toronto, all the little vintage stores have their own beautiful art work,” she said.

“Our mural was done by James Cook. He is based in a tattoo shop in St George, but also does all sorts of other art. He is a fabulous artist.”