Paradigm shift: A former Parliament Hill journalist on her transition to vintage shop owner

Chelsea Nash, a former Parliament Hill reporter, has opened a vintage store in Ottawa's Hintonburg neighbourhood. (Chelsea Nash/supplied)

A former Parliament Hill journalist is sharing her story of changing careers, moving from the hustle and bustle of the halls of power to a vintage store in Hintonburg.

Chelsea Nash was a reporter with the Hill Times but recently opened Curious Times Collective on Somerset Street West.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal, Nash says she became interested in vintage collecting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“I was living in Barrie at the time, with my folks there, and we all had a lot of extra time on our hands,” she said. “Once stores opened up, I had a lot of fun going out to the thrift store to see what I could find. And it just sort of grew from there.”

Nash said after moving back to Ottawa to work on Parliament Hill, reselling vintage and antique items became a weekend hobby.

“It became sort of a creative outlet for me that was a way for me to completely switch my brain off from the politics of the day that consumed Monday to Friday. It was a good mental break, but I found it really hard sometimes and really jarring to switch between those two. I started to feel like Jekyll and Hyde—okay, I’m a vintage seller, I’m having so much fun chatting with everyday people at the market, and then the next day I have to turn up at a committee that’s talking about foreign interference or I’m asking questions of Galen Weston.”

On social media, Nash said she’s worked to make sure the store is a welcoming environment for all walks of life.

“It’s my belief that one important way to fight rising fascism is to look after your neighbours and foster community. I’m excited and proud to say that our little shop has already proven to be a safe and joyful space for all kinds of folks, from autistic teens to elder trans folks,” she said on Bluesky.

“It might just be a vintage shop, but to me everything is always political, and so this next project has been created with a lot of intention and care.”

The store came to her when the owner of another vintage shop reached out.

“The way we got into that spot was actually through Jaime (McLeod), who owns Darling Vintage, which is in the ByWard Market. She had tried that location out for a little bit. It didn’t feel like home for her… She was looking for someone to take it over and reached out and it just seemed like a really good fit,” Nash said. “I live in the Hintonburg neighbourhood, my business partner does as well, so both of us jumped at the chance. Because of the work that Jaime already did, she did a lot to make it retail ready for us, so it was kind of a unique opportunity to get a spot that was a little bit turnkey ready for us and dive in right away.”

Nash told CFRA the store seeks out special pieces that represent bygone eras of design.

“We have some pieces from Canadian ceramicist Maurice Chalvignac. We have a giant, five-foot tall floor lamp from one of his production studios that looks like a table lamp, but the scale of it is quite massive, so it’s quite an impressive floor lamp,” she said.

Nash said it took a lot to make the leap and change careers, but there are parallels between journalism and the vintage world.

“You end up meeting so many people; you end up talking to them about their memories, or their lives, or their parents’ lives, or their histories,” she said. “It’s a much smaller scale, it’s that individual connection, but the stories there are endless and that’s what I love.”

Nash says she’s still actively writing, but her focus is shifting to themes of memory, grief, collections and the objects that represent people.

“I’m a storyteller, still, so that’s what I get to do, and I get to pass those stories on. A lot of times, people are hesitant to give up their collections or the collections of their parents that they don’t have a place for but that were so important to them,” she said. “We get to kind of promise them that we’re going to take care of this, we’re going to steward it into a new home for someone else that’s going to love it just as much. There’s some beauty to that.”