SWANSEA — It’s the kind of secret you want to shout out to the world. But for more than a year, the owners of the Silver Hippopotamus Gallery couldn’t tell anyone they were featured on the show, “Flea Market Flip.”
That is, until a few weeks ago when they finally got the go-ahead from the show producers. And now that the show has finally aired, sisters Beth Scanlon Melfi and Kathy Scanlon McGovern can say, “we won!”
The show, hosted by Lara Spencer, has two teams going to a flea market to buy three pieces that they will redesign to fit into a themed category. After the items are completed, the two teams head to a flea market in Brooklyn to sell their items. The team that makes the biggest profit (factoring in the initial cost of the item) is the winner.
Melfi and McGovern, who have already made a career transforming items into art, furniture and other usable industrial modern pieces, are featured in the “Flea Market Flip” episode called "Shake Your Money Maker!" airing on the Great American Country Channel.
In a recent interview at the Silver Hippopotamus Gallery, the sisters said they first found out the show was casting for this season on Instagram. After filling out a questionnaire, they got a callback in about 30 minutes and they had an interview by Skype that same night with the show’s production company.
The filming started in May 2018 with a trip to the Brimfield Antique Flea Market and $500 to purchase the three items they would be flipping. The flip list for the two teams for that episode was “Symmetrical Design, “Metal Makeover,” and “Shaker Chic.”
“You go in there and they give you an hour to find the three things,” said Melfi of the flea market search. “We thought it was very authentic as to what you see on the show.”
For “Shaker Chic” they found an old tool box, for “Symmetrical Design,” an old textile cylinder and a dilapidated birdcage for “Metal Makeover.” The producers also gave them some direction, they said, such as be creative, don’t do a bar because everyone does a bar, and make sure the item isn’t too big because it will likely be purchased for a city apartment. “We took their advice and went as creative as we could,” said Melfi.
Once the teams had their items completed, they headed off to the Brooklyn Flea Market in July 2018 to sell their wares in competition with a husband and wife team from Pittsburgh. As for the “Flea Market Flip” host, Lara Spencer, they both said she was very nice and very helpful.
They got the idea for their own business of re-purposing old items into furniture and decor while they were having lunch at Abe & Louie’s in Boston in 2013. Before long, they were going into old mills like the Kilburn Mill in New Bedford to salvage items to remake and sell. In addition to selling at the Silver Hippopotamus Gallery, attached to Melfi’s husband’s Symmetry Dental + Spa, they sell online and at pop-up shops.
“We take pieces, especially from old mills and see how we can give them new life,” said Melfi.
“It’s all about sustainability. We’re finding 100-year-old pieces that still have form and function and appeal to people who are interested in that history,” added McGovern.
The name Silver Hippopotamus came to them after Melfi had a dream that they owned a store on Fifth Avenue in New York. Though she couldn’t see what they were selling at the store, in the dream she saw herself standing in the store with a life-sized silver hippopotamus in the center of it. “I’m telling her the name (at the lunch) and she said, ‘That’s the name,’” recalled Melfi.
As for their experience on the show, they said, it was a bucket list moment.
“Flea Market Flip” is airing on the Great American Country cable channel. It is also available on iTunes and a few other streaming sites. “They did a good job of putting it together and it told the story,” said McGovern of the episode featuring them.
A viewing party, free and open to the public, will be held at the Silver Hippopotamus Gallery, 1719 GAR Highway on Thursday, June 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information about the gallery, visit the online store at www.silverhippopotamus.com or the Facebook page, facebook.com/SilverHippopotamus.
Email Linda Murphy at lmurphy@heraldnews.com.