Pam and I dream.....

It was summer 1994... Pam and I were getting a good rhythm down. Working our nursing jobs ...and every chance we got, we would be at an auction or off to a flea market or estate sale. "You couldn't have great sales if you didn't have great things to sell!" was our motto!

Most everything in my life was secondary to my little antique venture. As they say , I was getting the disease bad....Antique-Pox.

Pam and I were toying with the idea of our own shop. We were dreaming big. I even talked to Dick Stoskoff, who owned a building in downtown Valley City, about renting the space next to the little grocery store to put a shop in. After talking him into it, Pam and I realized the space wouldn't be big enough... but the seed now was planted in our minds...

July was my first anniversary in the Heirloom Cupboard. Pam and I spent it busy scouring flea markets searching for treasures to sell. The competition was fierce. We soon learned if you wanted to get the really cool things you had to get there before Karen did. She had an uncanny way of being every where we were, but we were always a little bit too late. She would be there before day break, flashlight in hand making her purchases before the people could get their possessions off of their trucks. She also had a network of pickers that saved things just for her. Remember I told you she was a shrewd business woman!

Another of the places Pam and I looked at to rent was a little train depot in Medina. A man named Bruce owned it and he had a section of it to rent. Pam jumped at the chance! I got the phone call from Pam and I went up to see what it was all about. It turned out to be the front section of a long narrow building. There were other businesses in the building, all with their own entrances off of a long narrow platform that ran the length of the building.

One of the businesses was Seven Sisters. They made cut out wooden pieces in the shape of buildings ... each painted with one of the buildings in Medina on them....the court house, the Medina fire station, the gazebo on the square, the Medina Train Depot ( the place we were looking at! I got oneof the wood cut outs of the Depot a few months later... it is the picture posted here with the seven sisters on the porch ), and The A. I. Root Company, to name a few. The A.I. Root Company is the business Medina was built around. It is Medina's largest company. Mr. Root founded the company to supply the world with honeybee equipment. He also was the creator of Gleaning Magazine. A monthly magazine about beekeeping. Medina is also known world wide for A.I.Root Candles. The Medina train depot was used by A.I.Root for all their shipping, way back from the early part of the century. It was situated in the long wide driveway of A.I. Root..right next to the railroad tracks.

This picture shows the Depot by the tracks and the large main building of the A.I.Root Company with the driveway running between. The rail road tracks are on the east side of the depot...the entrances to the shops in the building with the long walkway was on the west side of the building. This picture was taken in the 1970's.

The another section of the Depot was rented to a man who made intricate metal railroad cars and engines. I thought that was appropriate for him to have his shop in a depot.

The back section was rented to The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad Company. They had an office used for dispatching men and train cars from this area to Brewster where the main office was, south of Medina about 60 miles way.

When I met Pam at the Depot, my first impression was ..What a great place for an antique shop!! This will be perfect! Pam paid Bruce the rent. We started to plan.

I wasn't a partner in this venture... Pam had just quit her nursing job and wanted to do something with antiques full time. I would be a dealer in Pam's new shop. I was happy with that. She grew up knowing her Mom's antique business and I had enough on my plate with 4 teenagers at home, a son in college, my nursing job, my husband's business ( that I did all the paperwork for ) and.... my space at the Heirloom Cupboard. Adding another antique spot to fill and work 4 more days a month in the shop was really putting me on over load. I really didn't need the responsiblity of also running a shop. I was glad Pam was going to do this and I supported her 100%!

Pam and I were celebrating!! It was happening! Pam was getting her own shop! We were in a panic to find a few more dealers wanting to rent a space. We were planning road trips to large estate sales to get fresh merchandise. Time was wasting! Pam wanted to open the doors as soon as possible!



It never happened....



The Medina Train Depot was in foreclosure. Bruce rented to Pam knowing full well she would never open her shop. We went to see him and he was gone. The Depot was closed. Pam never got her money back.