Old Town’s rapidly growing north side is now home to Little Horse Vintage, a mid-century designer vintage shop featuring a vast stock of books, vinyl and furniture. 

The Louisville, Colorado-based store opened the doors of its Fort Collins location on Nov. 17. Little Horse is the brainchild of Mike Price, who started the company back in 2002, when practical, post-modern and vintage style began to come back into fashion. Price started out by specializing in old books, but has moved into other 1950’s-70’s goods like furniture and sound equipment. 

“I had started going to a lot of thrift stores and estate stores and garage stores, just kind of picking things that I liked,” Price said. “I had some friends that were really into mid-century design that educated me on this stuff.”

It was back then that Price met Kate Glover and Ryan Batch, a husband and wife and creative design team that owns graphic design company, Parallel Arts. When Glover and Batch moved to Fort Collins in January, opening a second location was an opportunity Price and the couple could not pass up.

“We always thought it would be cool to bring Little Horse to Fort Collins,” Glover said. “One day I was coming here to check out a coffee shop, and I saw a ‘for lease’ sign in the window.”

The location the team chose is a rustic converted garage in the growing north section of old town. The space had once been home to a retail store and an un-opened coffee shop, but in only three months, the team transformed in into a cozy, post-modern utopia. Price said they like having a clean spaced mixed with the roughness of the brick wall and other elements.

“That’s what little horse is about, it’s about vintage and things with patina, but it’s also about high-design, with mid-century and artistic design,” Price said. 

Now, the ‘Little Horse of the North’ as the team calls it, is stocking ‘new’ pre-loved designer goods daily, from large sectional couches to small collectable items. 

Little Horse is open everyday 11 am-6 pm at 226 Pine Street.

“I’m selling cool, artistic, original pieces of furniture that may not be in the best condition, but are affordable to college students and people who aren’t rich.” Price said, “For me, it feels like a better place to be as far as what we’re trying to do in the community.”

Not only are Price, Glover and Batch bringing their appreciation of 1960’s style to Old Town, but also their passion for the environmental and sentimental aspects of saving the classic items. Little Horse’s expansive collection of classic music equipment like stereos and vinyl shows their dedication to saving the old and eclectic pieces from the garbage.

“It gives us nightmares to think of all the stuff that’s been thrown in landfills that was beautiful or worth a lot of money,” Price said. “Even five or ten years ago, thrift stores would just junk some of the older [stereo equipment] they thought was worthless, but there were tube style amplifiers and old amplifiers that were worth a lot of money and also sounded really amazing.”

By recycling, re-purposing, and rescuing vintage items, Little Horse is bringing back the lasting style and quality of the postmodernist movement. The Old Town shop will be having their grand opening party later this month. 

“People are seeing that the older stuff that is made well and has good materials has a lasting appeal and a lasting quality,” Price said.

Lauryn Bolz can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com and Twitter @laurynbolz.