Carnation’s Blue Iris Vintage Co. has brought life to a building that sat vacant for 10 years, perhaps due to its maze-like layout that was a perfect match for the vintage shop and its loyal antique hunters.

The vintage and antiques store had a ribbon-cutting ceremony March 22 to celebrate its new and improved downtown Carnation location. Blue Iris first opened in 2013 as a consignment shop at 4645 Tolt Ave. Jessica Miller came on board as the store’s manager in 2019 after closing her own shop in Preston, and in 2024, she took over as owner.

When the property owner sold her building, Miller decided to move the shop to 4480 Tolt Ave. — across the street and two blocks down — in an effort to keep doing business in Carnation.

“The people here are just so wonderful and they’re loyal and they’re supportive,” said Miller, who grew up nearby on Union Hill. “I just love the small-town vibe.”

Miller stepped into furniture flipping several years ago after seeing someone on Pinterest make wine racks out of used pallets. Before she was a vintage shop owner, she sold her products in other shops as a vendor.

“I started making my own, and I got into a vintage shop and was selling my wine racks that I was making, and then it just kind of snowballed into my love for vintage items,” she said.

Miller and her husband like to hunt estate sales and repurpose things that were headed to the dump, but she said a lot of the products that Blue Iris sells come to them.

“A lot of times customers will come in and they don’t want to donate to Goodwill or Value Village because their items are super special to them, and they want them to go to somebody who’s going to enjoy and appreciate it,” she said.

Miller also has about 20 vendors that hunt for vintage and antique products to be sold at Blue Iris. In the new space, vendors have their own product displays that they got to design themselves.

Vendor Sara McGregor’s new spring-themed display was designed around a single estate sale find: a 1930s porcelain Kewpie doll.

“She’s the most darling thing ever,” McGregor said, noting that she doesn’t typically gravitate toward pastel colors, but was inspired by her great find.

The joy of Blue Iris is that each of the building’s 10 or so rooms are different, with new discoveries around every corner. Though there are a lot of vintage items, there is a mix of modern and handmade products.

“I remember when I first moved into Carnation, and I was like, oh, thank God there’s a vintage store,” said Carnation City Councilmember Jessica Merizan at the ribbon-cutting. “Imbuing the town with the feeling that … this is a historic space.”

A display designed by Blue Iris Vintage Co. vendor Sara McGregor, including a 1930s Kewpie doll, March 22, 2025.