USA TODAY: DECEMBER 2012
Pop Candy goes picking with Mike Wolfe
With two retail stores, a new vintage lighting line and a kids book due out this spring, Mike Wolfe has a lot on his plate. But above all else, the creator and star of American Pickers wants you to know that 1) Small retailers are the backbone of America. 2) Antiquing can get you hot girls.
In today’s Pop Candy interview, I talked with Wolfe about his hit show and the country’s new obsession with “picking.”
I don’t think I’d ever even heard the term “picking” before you. Now, thanks to you, I find myself walking around flea markets talking about “rusty gold” and “breaking the ice.” Are you surprised at how much it seems to have exploded in such a short time?
Yeah. I never thought it would be as big as it is. I pitched the show for four and a half years. With that being said, I thought that the show would do well. That’s why I pursued it for so long. But not to the degree that it has…I was always trying to explain to [executives] that it wasn’t about antiques. It was about relationships and that’s why I started the project. It was about showing the connection that people have with these items…It’s not a choice for these people. Like for me, it wasn’t a choice that I became a picker. It was just something I was born with … I wanted to give the item a voice and I wanted to give the person a voice and that’s exactly what it does and that’s why it connects with people… READ THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE.
