TRAVERSE CITY — Have you ever found an object at a thrift store? Or maybe garage sale that reminded you of your childhood? That feeling of nostalgia is what drives the owners of one Traverse City antique store to do their part in keeping history alive.
Owner and operator Matthew Mabey says, “It just kind of it’s a bug that bite you and gets into you. And so it just kind of grew over the years into more and more until we started selling out of our barns on our property and then decided to go into this venue. And really this setting is so we can sell the very best of what we have the masterpieces, the poems, if we can put it that way, and be able to provide that to the community.”
Mabey has grown up searching for treasures since he was a child. Going to different shops and auctions with his parents. He has continued that tradition with his wife, Debbie, selling items from their barn, but now they have their own storefront: The old Joseph Black School in Traverse City.
Mabey explained, “We’ve been driving by this location for three and a half years and just saying not only because it’s close, it’s just is the perfect venue for what we wanted. We wanted something that looked classic, but also looked very positive and bright on the inside. And so when we walked through this, we thought, this is this is really exactly what we want.”
Almost like finding a piece to place in their store. Because of Mabey’s childhood he has a special eye for finding the right item.
He said, “My wife laughs at me because I say sometimes I just get my spidey sense starts to tingle. And, you know, I just from all the years I’ve handled things, I’ve always looked for the finest items I can find.”
One of those finest is a drawing of the seven dwarfs that dates back to 1938, the year the movie was released.
Mabey talked about the find saying, “We think it’s a drawing that was done for either a poster or song sheet or something like that. And so really that’s the kind of stuff that gets our juices flowing when we find something original to a time period to something fascinating.”
A family history in preserving history – for Mabey it’s all about finding the piece that lingers. To find the Antique Store look for the Joseph Black School on the corner of Hammond and 3 Mile in Traverse City.
