From the outside, it looks like just another ordinary warehouse building with a bunch of lights inside. However, as you approach and enter the premises, you are taken aback by what you find inside. Thousands of antique items garnish the floors, walls and ceilings as you are engulfed from all angles. Classic Lighting is owned by Thomas Fasone, who recently moved into the area about six months ago. His passion for antiques grew as he dabbled around on South Street and came upon other antique shops. From there, he fell in love and was hooked.
Currently located at 1105 Frankford Ave., Fasone said he welcomes his new customers and was happy that his longtime customers have continued to follow him. His collection has something for every person’s preference.
“I have a great selection, a great space, and I have new and all my old customers back. It’s amazing,” Fasone said. At his original location on Second Street in Old City, he established his business and a name for himself. “We specialized in stain glass and slowly evolved into lighting and here we are now,” Fasone said.
His business quickly became popular as they shifted focus to antique lighting and not many others were doing so at the time. Before the move, Fasone said he probably had nearly 100,000 items in his collection but he sold half of it off. With his vast array of items to choose from, you could be looking for awhile.
Fasone and his brother originally had opened a restaurant together some 38 years ago on South Street and used antiques as their décor. The restaurant was not really doing much “so we converted into an antique store the next day almost.”
Classic Lighting stayed there for 16 years until their building was sold and the brothers moved out due to higher rent. Fasone said he loves his new location though. “I have 12,000 square feet packed with merchandise right now. This whole building is going to be a showroom.” Fasone would like to acquire more space from the buildings next to him and continue to grow his collection.
Pleasing his customers are the No. 1 priority for Fasone and he said he absolutely loves when he can make his customers happy. “I like it when I satisfy people that were looking for an item for 10 or 20 years and they walk in here and find it in five minutes,” Fasone said. He gathers his collection from state sales, auctions, flea markets, the Internet and trash picking. “Anything old that lights up, I’m interested,” Fasone said.
Some of his pieces have been featured in movies. All of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies feature some of Fasone’s lights. He rents out his lights not only locally, but all around the country. His antiques range from several hundred dollars to $45,000 in price.
“It’s a passion. Once you have passion, that’s it.”
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