The network of resale shops in Pacific is growing. This could be a good thing. Out-of-work families need affordable household items, which is the staple of all resale shops.
These places used to be called antique shops, but took on a more eclectic aura as owners became savvy at identifying neat little collectibles and bits of Americana.
As an avid junk shop browser, I’ve seen a few items on display in the Pacific stores that are old enough to be considered antiques.
There are several old mahogany chests in Deanna Christine’s Antiques, Resale and Consignment Gallery, 707 S. First St. She has a sign on the chests that says Lammert’s chests.
Deanna’s chests match exactly a chest that I have in my bedroom, from the curved front to the aged brass drawer pulls. I bought mine in an Arkansas antique store and Bob’s daughter and son-in-law, Marsha and Ron Kelly, who live in West Plains, picked it up and brought it up to Robertsville for me. I consider it an antique.
I bought a plate at Deanna’s that had Reagan and Gorbachev handpainted on it. Mr. Reagan was not of my party, but I like movie stars and Russian was my foreign language so that made sense to me. She also had a Bible there, printed in three languages, Greek, Hebrew and English, that maybe I should have bought. I have a pretty diverse collection of Bibles so Deanna and I spent about an hour discussing Bibles and Bible history. These places are a lot more cultural than you might think.
Along that same line, Deanna also has an old (antique?) oak church pew with a curved back, approximately 6 feet long that looks ancient and authentic.
If there is any interest in any of these things, Deanna’s phone number is 314-402-8097.
The thing that caught my eye at the new shop, Fancy Nancy’s, 323 S. First St., was an old (couldn’t tell how old) porcelain clock with naked babies hugging the clock face. I’ve been thinking of asking Bob to go back and get it for my birthday.
But the thing that caught my ear here was Nancy’s tactic of networking with other resale shops when a customer comes into her shop looking for something and she doesn’t have it. If all the resale shops in Pacific networked with each other there could be benefits. Nancy’s phone number is 636-675-9780.
The place to watch, for anyone who has time to revisit these places often, is Kaleidoscope Resale Shop, 136 W. St. Louis St. April Aubuchon occasionally takes in a collection from a family that is closing the house of a relative who has passed away or moved into smaller quarters. These little shows-within-a-show cover an obscure array of art pieces that people have collected over the years. And they sometimes go for a song. The Kaleidoscope phone number is 636-257-2484.
Larry Mueller, 142 W. St. Louis St., has a collection of John Wayne collectibles and other cowboy stuff that catches your eye. Shoppers have to scrounge a little more in Larry’s shop because he has a grandma’s attic style of arranging his material but I’ve never left there without finding some almost hidden treasure. I bought a wonderful black lacquered walking stick there with a tiger-head handle. It has an Oriental look for the red/mahogany colored leaves, also lacquer, scrolled up the length of the stick. Larry’s number is 314-210-7033.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I have not been in the shop at 125 N. First St., since Ron and Charlene Sansone turned it into the Pacific Antique Mall, but I have to tell you . . . the Sansones have more authentic antiques and artistic collectibles than all the antique shops in all the towns in all the region.
They used to operate the Iron Gate Antique Shop on St. Louis Street and have been collecting since forever. They have items stored in several buildings so they won’t all be in the Antique Mall at the same time but they are among the mass of what the Sansones had collected over the years and could probably find their way into the shop on a given day. If you don’t see what you’re looking for there, you’d better ask.
The antique mall also leases spaces to other sellers. Their phone number is 636-257-3114.
City Administrator Harold Selby says the resale shops not only produce sales tax, but also increase traffic through the business area. Maybe after shopping someone decides to get something to eat. So it all helps.
So, for just a hang-out day, go browsing.
