Stephen (left) and David Costa Photo by Ash Daniel
What is Urban Dwellers? Urban Dwellers is a new take on your classic vintage store. We offer hip furniture, antiques and artifacts for city nesters. Unlike other vintage shops, we hunt high and low for the most unique, diverse range of vintage décor in the Richmond area. Every item we feature is in excellent, move-in ready condition, so our customers need not do a thing but love what they purchase. We also try to keep our prices extremely affordable to assure our customers' shopping experience is a fun one. Who is behind Urban Dwellers? Stephen and David Costa are the faces behind Urban Dwellers. We're a married couple who moved from D.C. to Richmond last year to escape the rat-race lifestyle of our nation's capital. Stephen is responsible for any restoration work required on the pieces we find. My job is to photograph the items and list them on Craigslist and Facebook. When did you open and why? We founded Urban Dwellers in September of 2012. After years of working in the corporate world, we both wanted to try something unique, creative and different. Urban Dwellers was the answer. Where are you located? We currently run the business from our historic home in Church Hill. We are located at 215 N. 22nd St. in the C.W. Hardwicke Carriage House. We are by appointment only. Where do you find your goods? We find our goods through an extensive network of people and places in the D.C., Virginia and Maryland area. The rest is a Dweller secret. What kind of decor do you specialize in? We try not to limit ourselves to one particular style or era. We buy pieces from the Victorian era through the late 1960s. Our philosophy is simple: We buy what we love. What do people come to you looking for? We try to offer an extremely diverse range of vintage items. Most of our Dwellers come looking for a specific item and end up falling in love with something else. What do you love about Richmond's design scene? We love the new, fresh and accessible design scene here in Richmond. There's such an extraordinary network of people and places out there, and everyone wants to help everyone succeed. Visit urbandwellers.net for more info.
