Starla and Doug Winter are the proud owners of a successful antique store in the small town of Lake City Iowa. I visited and this is their story from the words of Starla Winter.
Doug and I are fanatics when it comes to auctions, flea markets, or garage sales. It kind of gets in ones blood, you either hate this stuff or you love it. It has always been cheap entertainment for us over the last few years of our marriage. Our eyes were always looking for the perfect spot for a “junktique” store everywhere we went.
In 1999 we invested in the property that consisted of an abandoned old house and a double car garage, both which needed a lot of help...Right up our alley... our passions are in restoration of about anything! We purchased two full lots in our home town of Lake City, Iowa on November 1, 1999. Come November 29th a message was left on the answering machine for Doug...”Don’t bother coming in tomorrow, the company closed the doors as of noon today.” No notice, no nothing after 24 1/2 years he was out of a job plus benefits. The restoration of the house and property was a godsend. We worked night and day pretty much seven days a week. It sure kept our minds off of the head of the household being unemployed.
Come March 1, 2000 we opened the doors to, “Once, Then and Again Antiques and Collectables.”
The major role that started our business was more that it was a dream that we wanted to be true. In the medical field I noticed that more and more it was about big business than the actual caring for people and that’s not what I went to school for. The harder I worked the more they put on me. I saw the money someone was getting and it sure wasn’t me. Their concern was how much to increase the cost for medical care with little concern for those who were doing the work and for those who couldn’t afford it.
Our first reason to open the doors was to do it as a hobby to make a little money at what we enjoyed doing. As time went on we found out how much our lives could improve by working with the store full-time. The initial goals we set were just to pay off the initial investment and have money to restock inventory during the weekends at auctions. Our backup plan was, if things didn’t work out and the store was a total failure we would return the house to its livable state and sell/rent it out, (whichever applicable). After restoration it was worth a lot more than originally.
The second year we put in a garden on the back part of our lot and began a farmer’s market on Tuesday evenings 5-7pm. Through work and growing up here I know a lot of the town and enticed others to sell goods for a small fee. This actually ended up being a community service more than anything since a lot of our town is retired-about 75% of the population is 65+. Placing yourself in a good position with the community helps tremendously for a small business. When you are liked by a lot of people word of mouth goes around fast. For convenience we expanded that farmer's market to the regular store hours. People can let us know what they need or come pick it fresh from the garden. We have also been active members of the Community Betterment in our small town. For a small amount of time I even served on their Board of Directors. This was just a small fee to belong, $25 and well worth it.
There are a lot of pros to owning your own business. Especially something you love to do. When it comes down to restoration one of my patrons said it all, “So you’re artists.” What a compliment in real life. I always wanted to be an architect growing up. The gleam in Starla's Eye as she told the story was priceless. She is so proud and we are proud to call her Mom.
by:
Gabe Winter
www.localcommunityboard.com
Doug and I are fanatics when it comes to auctions, flea markets, or garage sales. It kind of gets in ones blood, you either hate this stuff or you love it. It has always been cheap entertainment for us over the last few years of our marriage. Our eyes were always looking for the perfect spot for a “junktique” store everywhere we went.
In 1999 we invested in the property that consisted of an abandoned old house and a double car garage, both which needed a lot of help...Right up our alley... our passions are in restoration of about anything! We purchased two full lots in our home town of Lake City, Iowa on November 1, 1999. Come November 29th a message was left on the answering machine for Doug...”Don’t bother coming in tomorrow, the company closed the doors as of noon today.” No notice, no nothing after 24 1/2 years he was out of a job plus benefits. The restoration of the house and property was a godsend. We worked night and day pretty much seven days a week. It sure kept our minds off of the head of the household being unemployed.
Come March 1, 2000 we opened the doors to, “Once, Then and Again Antiques and Collectables.”
The major role that started our business was more that it was a dream that we wanted to be true. In the medical field I noticed that more and more it was about big business than the actual caring for people and that’s not what I went to school for. The harder I worked the more they put on me. I saw the money someone was getting and it sure wasn’t me. Their concern was how much to increase the cost for medical care with little concern for those who were doing the work and for those who couldn’t afford it.
Our first reason to open the doors was to do it as a hobby to make a little money at what we enjoyed doing. As time went on we found out how much our lives could improve by working with the store full-time. The initial goals we set were just to pay off the initial investment and have money to restock inventory during the weekends at auctions. Our backup plan was, if things didn’t work out and the store was a total failure we would return the house to its livable state and sell/rent it out, (whichever applicable). After restoration it was worth a lot more than originally.
The second year we put in a garden on the back part of our lot and began a farmer’s market on Tuesday evenings 5-7pm. Through work and growing up here I know a lot of the town and enticed others to sell goods for a small fee. This actually ended up being a community service more than anything since a lot of our town is retired-about 75% of the population is 65+. Placing yourself in a good position with the community helps tremendously for a small business. When you are liked by a lot of people word of mouth goes around fast. For convenience we expanded that farmer's market to the regular store hours. People can let us know what they need or come pick it fresh from the garden. We have also been active members of the Community Betterment in our small town. For a small amount of time I even served on their Board of Directors. This was just a small fee to belong, $25 and well worth it.
There are a lot of pros to owning your own business. Especially something you love to do. When it comes down to restoration one of my patrons said it all, “So you’re artists.” What a compliment in real life. I always wanted to be an architect growing up. The gleam in Starla's Eye as she told the story was priceless. She is so proud and we are proud to call her Mom.
by:
Gabe Winter
www.localcommunityboard.com
(Since this story was written they have expanded to 4 more buildings and they still love what they do as 'artists')
