Book Recommendation — Never, Never, Hardly Ever by Kelly McKenzie

Never, Never, Hardly Ever

by Kelly McKenzie

Some books find their way into your life just when you need them. For me, this was Never, Never, Hardly Ever by Kelly McKenzie. The delightful, humorous story follows a decade in the life of a daughter helping her mother run an antique store in Vancouver. What begins as a summer job turns into her commitment to stay just one more year, which evolves into a career buying and selling Asian antiques. 

This memoir by Kelly McKenzie is inspired by the meticulous diaries kept by her mother (and store owner) Frankie Robinson. As such, the details from the 1980s are so well drawn, I felt transported to a Vancouver long-past, when life was distinctly different. 

The chapters follow Kelly’s choices and insights gained from learning to sell Asian antiques. We meet her force-of-nature mother whom she sometimes refers to as Mamasan Frankie when she’s sharing her motherly advice and wisdom to her most ardent fans, and sometimes as Madame Wasabi, when she demonstrates a short-lived, manic persona that sends the author scrambling to put out professional fires lit by her mother’s ardent determination. 

Along with an exploration of Kelly's growing and shifting relationship with her mother, the memoir tracks the evolution of the shop, captivating stories of their regular customers, and of the city of Vancouver. Kelly shares her growing insight into identifying Asian antiques, and how to sell them, all in a store with too-little square footage for its growing inventory. The title “Never, Never, Hardly Ever” refers to one of their payment plans, which provides perspective on how loosely the company's finances were initially managed, and how dedicated they were to making the objects they sold available to others. 

Beyond the store, Kelly’s work took her on buying trips to Asia. These chapters are adventures in cultural awareness and uncovering sellable antiques. 

The delightful memoir captures the shifting expectations of the time, the last-minute, all-hands-on-deck challenges of a small business, their ingenious solutions for managing their limited space, and their intuitive ways of creating a shop that welcomed all who entered. The story also follows Kelly’s own personal journey as a 20-something seeking to define her path in life.  

Never, Never, Hardly Ever was one of those books that I looked forward to reading every evening, wondering where the story was going. Part reflection on business, part commentary of mother-daughter relationships, part perspective on the world of antiques, it captures some of the joys and challenges of a family business. And it does so with humor, warmth and charm.  

If you’re interested in non-fiction stories about mother-daughter relationships, small business challenges, antiques or Vancouver back in the day, I highly recommend Never, Never, Hardly Ever by Kelly McKenzie.