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Shopping for a Living
Keith Johnson has always had an eye for antique, vintage and artistic home furnishings, but it wasn't until 1994, when his partner, Glen Senk, took over as president of Anthropologie—a women's retail and home goods store—that Johnson found his passion for shopping the globe.
Johnson was hired to find unique furnishings for the first Anthropologie retail store in Wanye, Pennsylvania. Soon, he was taking shopping trips overseas not only to find special chests of drawers and vintage shelves for merchandise, but also to discover artists in far-flung corners of the world. These artists began creating one-of-a-kind pieces for Anthropologie's growing customer base of female shoppers. "People love to see things they haven't seen, and it's easier when you are traveling overseas to surprise people," Johnson says.
Today, Johnson is the buyer-at-large for Anthropologie's more than 100 retail stores and he often travels six months a year to keep up with the demand for Anthropologie's special style of home furnishings and decorative items. His fascinating job is the focus of the Sundance Channel's reality TV series Man Shops Globe. Follow along as Keith describes some of his shopping trips featured on the series.
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