History has a future in Bulls
A three-decade-old Manawatu¯ antique store has a new home after narrowly avoiding becoming history itself.
Bulls Antiques owner Christine Regan said after 30 years on the corner of High and Bridge streets, the landlord gave her eight weeks to move out and it almost forced her to close.
Regan struggled to find a suitable store in a tight commercial property market, until a sympathetic Bridge St landlord heard of her problem and offered a new home where she reopened the store this week.
‘‘If I hadn’t found a place in time, I’d have had to put everything in storage and I’d have gone bankrupt. It was a rough couple of months,’’ Regan said.
Her fascination with antiques started when she uncovered a Victorian-era rubbish tip while the family built a bike shed for her now grown-up children.
She began by selling the old bottles from the tip to collectors, before branching out and eventually starting Bulls Antiques.
Regan said she particularly loved learning each item’s history from the previous owners, or from her own research.
‘‘Even the most simple piece has a story.’’
Regan’s favourite, from her personal collection, was a late 19th century Royal Doulton china teapot and matching sugar basin.
Regular customer Shona Austin was happy Bulls Antiques could stay open.
She started going to the store as a child with her father, who used to explain what all the unusual old things were used for.
Austin said her ancestors came to New Zealand with Captain Cook in the second fleet, so her father loved to collect antiques from that era.
Her mother was less keen about his ever-expanding collection and eventually banned him from shopping at Bulls Antiques.
‘‘[But] Dad would still take me in there every time we were in Bulls – well, whenever Mum wasn’t around.’’