Decades Garage
I bet you're thinking you're about to read another about me page that talks about how I’m the wife of Darrick, mother of kids, and the lover of Sonic Diet Coke. But this ain’t no ordinary page.
This daughter of a junk dealer is anything but ordinary.
However, I can sum it up for you in three words, I like stuff. Mostly old stuff. Definitely fun stuff. Colorful stuff. Quirky stuff. Some of it’s just plain weird stuff. But I definitely like stuff.
You see I come by this thing honestly. My Grandparents had an antique store, Taylor’s Antiques; and my parents were owners of The Brown Shutter Antiques. Both in the booming metropolis of Holton, Kansas located just 30 miles North of Topeka.
So like any typical middle class family in the 70’s and 80’s, my parents drug me all over the countryside to do what else, but buy stuff. We went to auctions and estate sales, garage sales and tag sales. There was even a questionable guy who sold us stuff out of the back of a van in the dark….
Always in the dark.
Author's note: Don’t panic, it’s not as “creepery” as it sounds. He was a harmless old guy that went from town to town selling stuff out of his van. It was perfectly harmless, it was always in our driveway. Wait, I don't think this is helping.
We did all this before it was cool. Before people knew terms like “sustainable” or “reduced resource consumption”. In the 1970’s when they started their shops, antique dealers were few and far between. And there definitely weren't two in the same family.
Years later, no decades later, I find myself immersed in the vintage lifestyle. Thrifting for fun, shelves covered in kitschy finds, and wanting to share it with the world. Nothing gives me more joy than to see someone fall in love with one of my discoveries.
So here I am, in the heart of the North Topeka Arts and Entertainment District, buying the things I love so someone else can give them a home for decades to come. This stuff has more than one life to live, more than one family to bless. It’s my honor to help special stuff find its way home.
I guess maybe it's not just stuff, maybe it’s more like a legacy.
Trish Tripe
Decades Garage
