(cup dings) (chilled music) - It's a unique business.

(paper rustling) - We've been told multiple times that we are the mecca of tableware.

(chilled music) We are at Replacements Limited in McLeansville, North Carolina.

We are the world's largest retailer of vintage and new tableware, silver and estate jewelry.

(chilled music) We have more than 470,000 patterns now in our database.

We have more than 11 million pieces of tableware in our collection today.

(chilled music) - Well, I love the hunt, I love finding rare things and I find things all the time we've never had before and we get in on an average about 70,000 pieces weekly here.

Well, let's see, today is what Tuesday?

I haven't been to a flea market since yesterday.

That is spectacular.

- The business was started by our founder and CEO, Bob Page.

He lived for his hobby, which was going to thrift stores, estate sales, flea market.

- [Bob] When I first got started and was working outta my attic, there were just a few hundred pieces, but today about 90% of our business is online.

We get five to 6 million visitors a month to our website in our busiest season.

(bright chilled music) - I like this with the little quail.

- We make people happy.

We do.

- [Keith] We buy from a variety of sources.

We also work with individuals so that if you have a pattern that you may no longer need, you can give us a call.

We offer restoration, specifically silver restoration.

We have a very talented group of silversmiths (bright jazz music) - [Bob] And we get a lot of tourists that come through and are fascinated.

- Collectors are looking for everything and we have something for everyone.

Preserving and archiving tableware patterns from throughout the centuries is very important to us here at Replacements.

There's a museum of all these beautiful treasures that we've collected.

Oftentimes we're asked what is our most expensive pattern?

Sometimes we're asked what is our oldest pattern, and in this instance, they're pretty much one and the same.

This pattern behind me, which is Flora Danica was produced by Royal Copenhagen.

It's more than 200 years old, it's still in production.

Pieces in this collection can go upwards of $25,000 per piece.

- My plates that I eat off (plate shatters) at home came from Goodwill and I paid 50 cents a piece for 'em.

(TV static) (toaster pops) (attendees laughing) - Sometimes we get requests for patterns that might have been shown on a TV show, such as the "I Love Lucy" show.

That pattern that you would see, was the Franciscan Ivy pattern and some of you may be familiar, being here in North Carolina, "The Andy Griffin Show."

The pattern that was shown in Aunt Bee's dining room is the Blue Willow pattern by Johnson Brothers.

(ceremonious music) - Here we have a play setting of the Johnson Administration, White House China Collection.

Lady Bird herself worked with Tiffany's in the Castleton company to create this beautiful setting.

(gentle music) - A lot of it, it's very sentimental.

You know, that belonged to my mother or my grandmother or I got that 40 years ago and I still think it's the prettiest pattern ever made and I can't, they don't make it anymore and it brings back memories.

(gentle instrumental music) - We had inherited some China and we didn't have the complete set, so we came here and pretty much finished out the set of China and it was my husband's mother's and I think she got it, I think from her mother and it was Haviland pattern, Bird of Paradise, makes me think of my husband's mother and how precious she was.

- [Bob] That blue's my favorite color.

I'm happy doing it.

We make a lot of customers happy and we are really involved in the community.

- We've worked with Habitat for Humanity here in the local Greensboro area for years.

We launched an onsite clothing charity here and we provide clothing to individuals who are in need, no charge, no questions asked.

Last year we supplied more than 55,000 individual pieces of clothing.

- I'm proud of several things.

I'm proud of our integrity as a business, our reputation for providing customer service.

(customers laughing) - Y'all have a great day.

- Our dedication to our employees and our involvement in the community are things that I find important and that I'm proud of and our diversity here at work.