About
A wholesale house, kept small on purpose.
Letter from the founder
Mary Walker, on starting a trade house in the wrong year.
My grandmother kept a feed store outside Mebane for forty-one years. When I opened Walker & Vine in the fall of 2011 — the wrong year, every consultant assured me — I thought I was just opening a shop. The wholesale part happened by accident: a boutique owner from Beaufort walked in, asked who made the salt cellars on the back wall, and asked if she could buy a case.
What we do now is what we did then. We find makers. We pay them on time. We pack their work into clean boxes and we send it to people who have the same idea we do — that a small Main Street store, kept well, is a real thing worth keeping.
If you are a retailer reading this, we would love to hear from you. We answer the phone Monday through Friday.
— Mary Walker, Founder
The timeline
Fourteen years, told in lines.
- 2011
Mary Walker opens a 600 sq. ft. storefront on West King Street with eighteen makers.
- 2013
First wholesale order ships — twelve cases of stoneware to a boutique in Beaufort.
- 2015
Move to the current 14,000 sq. ft. warehouse on Arrowhead Trail.
- 2018
Hire first road rep, Linda Patel, to cover Virginia and the Carolinas.
- 2020
Launch curbside drop-ship for retail partners during the spring shutdown.
- 2023
Cross 400 active accounts and 70 makers.
- 2025
Open a permanent booth at AmericasMart Atlanta, Bldg 2.
Values
Four rules we have not bent.
Within a day's drive
Two-thirds of catalog made inside 100 miles of the warehouse. We name every maker on the line sheet.
Fair to the maker, fair to the buyer
Keystone margins, no hidden surcharges. We do not undercut our retailers online.
Slow seasons matter
We plan for February. Our buy plans assume a real retail cadence, not a feed-driven one.
Repair before replace
Free crate replacements for the life of the SKU. We will mend a chipped sample before we discount it.
The warehouse
14,000 square feet on the Eno River.
Our warehouse sits on Arrowhead Trail, ten minutes east of historic downtown Hillsborough and twenty from the Triangle. Inside: rolling shelves of stoneware, a beeswax candle pour room, a packing line built by Owen's brother-in-law, and a small showroom open to retailers by appointment.
Plan a showroom visit →The team
Eleven people answer the phone.
Mary Walker
Founder & Buyer
Twenty-six years in retail; previously at the Carrboro Farmers Market and a tenant at Cottontail Antiques.
Linda Patel
Road Rep · Carolinas & VA
Tuesdays on the road, Thursdays in the warehouse.
Wesley Ono
Road Rep · GA, AL & N. FL
Former buyer at Bennett & Tilton in Athens.
Sara McLean
Showroom & Accounts
Handles every new-account application personally.
Owen Tillman
Warehouse Lead
Twelve years in 3PL freight before joining in 2019.
June Carrera
Maker Liaison
Visits the workshops; writes the line-sheet copy.
Press & recognition
Mentions we are quietly proud of.
- · "Best Wholesale Source for Southern Goods" — Garden & Gun, Mercantile Issue 2024
- · Featured supplier — NC Made Holiday Catalog 2023
- · "What independent buyers actually order from" — Gift Shop Magazine, Spring 2022
- · Member, Carolina Independent Booksellers & Mercantile Alliance (since 2014)
- · Member, AMERICASMART Atlanta — Permanent Showroom (since 2025)