We would like to extend our thanks to the editors of New Hampshire Magazine for naming us one of the 2024 winners in the category of Arts & Culture! It’s especially meaningful to share the honor with The Press Room (Portsmouth), The Wright Museum (Wolfeboro), and the NW Barrett Gallery (Portsmouth) among others. To read the full article and see the winners of the Readers Poll, visit New Hampshire Magazine online!
No Dipping!
Just a word about polishing! Whether it’s brass or copper or silver, I never recommend “dipping” your metals. There are lots of recipes out there for cleaning your metals with dipping/soaking methods. When you soak your metals, you remove tarnish…and thats the problem. Hand-polishing leaves tarnish in the grooves of your metals and its that tarnish that accentuates the designs in your metals. Polish hits the high points leaving tarnish in the low points giving depth and beauty to the designs in your silver, brass & copper. It may take longer, but hand-polishing will shine your antiques while keeping their old look.
The Dilemma of Downsizing
A family member has passed, your parents are moving, or you just need to clear the stuff out of your garage. Whatever your situation, downsizing can be overwhelming. Our advice? Pause before you purge.
In these situations, we’ve found that most effective way to move forward is to divide your stuff into three categories: junk, useful, and valuable. Junk will need to be donated or dumped; useful can be sold via word of mouth, a yardsale, or social media; and valuable can be sold to a collector or dealer. The challenge is understanding which things fall into each category.
The first thing most people donate is clothing. Though most clothing falls into the junk category, some clothes can be quite valuable (denim, old t-shirts, dresses, leather coats, vintage lingerie). So before you toss clothes, check with a trusted dealer.
On the other hand, though we might be able to offer you a lot of money for grandpa’s old Levis, we might also tell you that grandma’s china cabinet should go to the local shrift shop (along with her teacup collection).
So take a pause and think junk, useful, valuable. If you aren’t sure which category something belongs in, reach out to a trusted source. We talk to folks every day about downsizing and we are always happy to help. You can text us photos, bring things in, or have us to come and take a look. We can help you sort the trash from the treasure and if you have something that would fit the vibe of our shop, we’ll evaluate it and make you a fair offer based on current value. So pause before you purge and ask for advice because grandpa’s stuff might be cooler than you realize.
Vintage Denim
We’re getting ready for fall with a new rack of vintage jeans! Our denim inventory includes jeans from the 1950s thru the 1990s. Styles include everything from bell bottoms & bootleg to flared & cropped in conditions that range from tattered to dead stock. Sizes start at 26 and run thru 40+. So stop in and find a pair that matches your personality (and try on some boots at the same time)!
VINTAGE CLOTHING BONANZA!
In case you haven’t been in the shop recently, we’ve double the size of our vintage clothing selection. We currently have 7 large racks of both men’s and women’s antique & vintage clothing from Victorian thru the 1980s. We carry workwear & denim, dresses & separates, lingerie & accessories. We also have a great selection of leather bags, leather jackets (biker & boho), and boots. So if vintage is your thing, stop by and check out our inventory!
More Cool Stuff!
If you haven’t been to the shop recently, you might not know that we more than doubled the size of the barn. We finished construction at the end of 2023 and spent the month of January filling it with inventory from our storage barn and storage units. We’ve completely rearranged and reorganized the entire building filling the new space with cool stuff we’ve been stashing for a number of years. The barn is now larger than the main shop with 4000 square feet of retail space. And in August we completed a courtyard for our garden antiques to open up more space for display and parking. So stop by sometime and check it out! We think you’ll like it!
Happy New Year
We want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and we would like to sincerely thank you all for your continued support. It’s been a hard year in many ways but it’s also been a year that has reminded us that we are very fortunate to have a diverse group of dedicated regular customers who support us on the daily. You keep us motivated, you make us smile, you cheer us on. We are very grateful so we send our deepest thanks to you all. Peace & love.
Holiday & Winter Hours
Just a quick update with regard to holiday & winter hours.
- We are open year-round, 7 days a week from 10-5:00 (and the barn is open year-round as well so dress warmly).
- We will be open on Christmas Eve but we will be closing at 3:00; we will be closed on Christmas Day.
- We will be open on New Year’s Eve but we will be closing at 3:00; we will be open on New Year’s Day.
- We base our snowstorm closures (as well as late openings and early closings) on the condition of our parking lot. We don’t open until we are plowed & shoveled and we close early if a storm is making our parking area slippery & unsafe. Don’t hesitate to call before you come!
We wish you all Happy Holidays and we look forward to seeing you this season!
Navigating Covid
The State of New Hampshire is predicting another major covid surge this fall. We will await guidance from the governor when/if covid numbers begin to increase. Our staff is fully vaccinated so we are currently maskless but we are prepared to implement a mask mandate again this fall if necessary. If you are not currently vaccinated, we encourage you to get a shot to protect yourself and those around you.
Inventory changing daily!
Cool things at every price point!