The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Pop-up thrift sale to pack up March 15
Business partners Ben Criss and Gerri Rice recent pop-up style shop at 102 W. Main St., in South Amherst, will close up March 15.
According to the pair, both of their personal collections have become too much to manage, ultimately leading to the idea of the pop-up shop resembling a thrift store or antique shop, that has been running for about a month and a half.
Criss, an artist with Stonehinge Architectural Art, said many of the items for sale belong to him and Rice and have been collected from various projects and historical buildings from years past, such as the Lorain Palace Theater.
“Over the years, we’ve restored a lot of historic buildings,” he said.
“We collect neat stuff, and as a result, we had too much neat stuff and we decided to sell our neat stuff and make a lot of people happy.”
Items in the space range from paintings, board games, home décor, small appliances, glassware, trinkets and Criss’ personal collection of albums and CDs. Hundreds of CDs and albums can be found there in all different genres from different time periods.
“I guess the word would be eclectic — if (items) had integrity, that was the main determinant for me,” Criss said. “The main takeaway would be the music, because there’s such a wide range of CDs and albums and it’s not humanly possible to not find something that resonates with you.”
While about 90% of items in the space belong to the pair, Criss said some local people have inquired about selling their own items as well. Some have their own display tables with items, while others have space
for paintings and artwork.
“It’s been fun and every day somebody brings something in, so we don’t know what’s even in here sometimes,” Rice said.
“We are meeting the most talented people.”
Due to most items being from personal collections, Criss said it’s sometimes hard to part with the items he knows and loves. Many of them have resurfaced after being in storage for so long that they were essentially forgotten about.
“A lot of stuff is difficult to part with but it’s really neat and somebody’s going to really like it,” he said. “Some of the things are so painful.”
Though the idea was initially just a thought that came to fruition, Criss said there have been “truck loads sold” and items he thought would never sell were among the first gone. Due to the amount of items, there is truly something for everyone.
“Surprisingly, some things you thought people would clamor for, no interest initially,” he said. “Things that you think ‘no one would want this,’ people are fighting for.”
New items are added to the tables daily and while a majority of the team’s items are put out already, there are many things that still remain in each of their collections, Criss said.
There are no set plans for a future sale, however, both Criss and Rice said they would be open to hosting another one.
“We get to hear everybody’s stories, it’s really more like a vacation than a job,” Rice said. “It’s been very fun.”
The sale is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until March 15.