Located on the ground floor of the historic Bell Street Brickhouse (former home of Shawnee Garment Company, manufacturers of the world-renowned Roundhouse Overalls) is a veritable treasure-trove of rare antiques.
Memory Lane Antiques and Collectibles has been operating at 115 N Bell since Feb. 19, 1998. Debbie Bell, owner of Memory Lane, has an eye for precious collectibles and for customer service.
Debbie says she got interested in antiques the same way most people do, as a collector. For many years she collected glassware and pottery as a hobby. In fact she collected so much, she says, “the barns got full.”
Eventually Danny, Debbie’s husband, gave her an ultimatum.
“He told me, ‘Stop buying or start selling this stuff!’”
And so she did. In the beginning Bell rented booth space at another antique store where she sold many of the items she had accumulated throughout the years. Soon she hit upon another means of selling her precious items.
“I started doing antique shows. We went all over. Dallas, Oklahoma City, even Arkansas.”
Selling at antique shows was a good business experience for Debbie. She says she was having such good sales that her husband and kids told her she should open a store.
“Danny said my sales were so good at shows; imagine how they could be with my own store.”
Opening an antique store presented Debbie with the opportunity to have more merchandise available at any given time.
Most antique shows last only two days or so, and require a dealer to haul their merchandise to a location away from home, set up a booth for a time and then take it down and haul the merchandise back.
Having an established location frees the dealer from the travel as well as offering much more space for much more merchandise than a simple booth at a two day event.
And “much more” is the operative phrase. Memory Lane is packed with antique and collectible items. A shopper can find many pieces of glassware including precious Depression glass, beautiful antique furniture, lovely hand-painted china, ornate mirrors and signed pottery pieces just to name a few.
And it isn’t just furniture and curios.
“I’ve been told we’re known for beautiful artwork. We have a wide variety, from florals to landscapes, et cetera.”
Most of the purchasing for Memory Lane is done at estate auctions. It seems the key to buying antiques and collectibles for sale at a shop is to look for originality.
“Treasures can be anything: a house full of furniture, a set of china, or just one object. My two main phrases are, ‘The unusual always sells,’ and ‘You can’t sell what you don’t have.’ In a small business like this you succeed in variety. You have to diversify [one’s inventory] to succeed in today’s market.”
Bell demonstrates another version of that diversity in her business practices. Not only does she sell her own inventory of antiques, but she rents booth space in her store to other dealers with smaller inventory and sells many items on consignment.
The Bells also do work outside of the store making appraisals and helping set up and price items at estate sales.
One of the challenges presented in today’s antiques market is online sales. Web sites such as eBay have taken a large portion of the market for antique sales. Debbie recalls making a dire prediction several years ago
“I told Danny, in five years half the antique stores will be out of business because of eBay.”
And while there is, sadly, a lot of truth in that prediction a way in which eBay can’t compete is in the personal touch. Debbie Bell is among the friendliest merchants in town. And she has customer loyalty to prove it.
“We’ve been really blessed to have the customers we have. They come from all over.”
While running a small business in a small city can be uniquely challenging, Debbie Bell has made it a lifelong passion.
“This is the most fascinating business I believe I could be in. It’s always a learning experience. And it’s always a lot of fun.”
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Located on the ground floor of the historic Bell Street Brickhouse (former home of Shawnee Garment Company, manufacturers of the world-renowned Roundhouse Overalls) is a veritable treasure-trove of rare antiques.
Memory Lane Antiques and Collectibles has been operating at 115 N Bell since Feb. 19, 1998. Debbie Bell, owner of Memory Lane, has an eye for precious collectibles and for customer service.
Debbie says she got interested in antiques the same way most people do, as a collector. For many years she collected glassware and pottery as a hobby. In fact she collected so much, she says, “the barns got full.”
Eventually Danny, Debbie’s husband, gave her an ultimatum.
“He told me, ‘Stop buying or start selling this stuff!’”
And so she did. In the beginning Bell rented booth space at another antique store where she sold many of the items she had accumulated throughout the years. Soon she hit upon another means of selling her precious items.
“I started doing antique shows. We went all over. Dallas, Oklahoma City, even Arkansas.”
Selling at antique shows was a good business experience for Debbie. She says she was having such good sales that her husband and kids told her she should open a store.
“Danny said my sales were so good at shows; imagine how they could be with my own store.”
Opening an antique store presented Debbie with the opportunity to have more merchandise available at any given time.
Most antique shows last only two days or so, and require a dealer to haul their merchandise to a location away from home, set up a booth for a time and then take it down and haul the merchandise back.
Having an established location frees the dealer from the travel as well as offering much more space for much more merchandise than a simple booth at a two day event.
And “much more” is the operative phrase. Memory Lane is packed with antique and collectible items. A shopper can find many pieces of glassware including precious Depression glass, beautiful antique furniture, lovely hand-painted china, ornate mirrors and signed pottery pieces just to name a few.
And it isn’t just furniture and curios.
“I’ve been told we’re known for beautiful artwork. We have a wide variety, from florals to landscapes, et cetera.”
Most of the purchasing for Memory Lane is done at estate auctions. It seems the key to buying antiques and collectibles for sale at a shop is to look for originality.
“Treasures can be anything: a house full of furniture, a set of china, or just one object. My two main phrases are, ‘The unusual always sells,’ and ‘You can’t sell what you don’t have.’ In a small business like this you succeed in variety. You have to diversify [one’s inventory] to succeed in today’s market.”
Bell demonstrates another version of that diversity in her business practices. Not only does she sell her own inventory of antiques, but she rents booth space in her store to other dealers with smaller inventory and sells many items on consignment.
The Bells also do work outside of the store making appraisals and helping set up and price items at estate sales.
One of the challenges presented in today’s antiques market is online sales. Web sites such as eBay have taken a large portion of the market for antique sales. Debbie recalls making a dire prediction several years ago
“I told Danny, in five years half the antique stores will be out of business because of eBay.”
And while there is, sadly, a lot of truth in that prediction a way in which eBay can’t compete is in the personal touch. Debbie Bell is among the friendliest merchants in town. And she has customer loyalty to prove it.
“We’ve been really blessed to have the customers we have. They come from all over.”
While running a small business in a small city can be uniquely challenging, Debbie Bell has made it a lifelong passion.
“This is the most fascinating business I believe I could be in. It’s always a learning experience. And it’s always a lot of fun.”
