Iowa Girl on the Go

In Boone, Iowa, it seems everything old is new again. In a very good way.

Boone has always had a fairly vibrant downtown, with a variety of shops and the yummy Dutch Oven Bakery. But within the last two years, vintage and antiques shops have proliferated in the downtown area, making Boone a destination for enthusiasts of all things vintage.

I visited Boone yesterday and was able to hit five shops in about two hours. I was taken with the quality of the shops, the friendliness of the shopkeepers, the variety of offerings, the fairness of prices, and the number of shoppers (and, yes, buyers) who were, as I was, making the rounds.

I started at Paradox, where I met owner Sara Parsons (pictured below). Paradox is crammed full of antiques, art, and oddities; it’s a store where you can easily find a prosthetic leg or some cute jewelry. Sarah described her demographic as “everyone” and said she embraces the paradox concept: juxtaposing light and dark to make a truly eclectic mix.

Be sure to go downstairs for more fun and funky items. The painted stairwell itself (pictured left) is reason enough.

Paradox has been open for three and a half years, and Sara sees the vintage renaissance that’s taking over her small central-Iowa town. “Boone is becoming a destination,” she said.

Paradox is located at 818 8^th St., just half a block west of Story St., the main road through downtown. The shop is open Wednesday through Saturday, “11ish through 6ish.” You can find the store on Facebook and Pinterest at 818paradox.

The shop right across the street, Uptown Funky Junk at 817 8^th St., could not be more different from Paradox. In Carla Awtry’s spacious shop you’ll find refinished furniture and upcycled items, mostly created by Carla herself.

In fact, most days you’ll find Carla (pictured left) working away on a project or two in her shop. She produces painted and refinished furniture – tables, chairs, cabinets, desks, bookshelves – and home décor items like brightly colored chandeliers, windows, and wall hangings. She also carries lines of candles and paint, plus vintage items like dishes and baskets. Uptown Funky Junk has been open for 15 months and has a presence on Facebook.

Next up was the Iron Horse Antique Mall, a straightforward antique mall featuring, well, pretty much everything you’d expect from a traditional antiques store.

The large shop is divided into booths filled with collectables and tchotchkes, primatives and linens, and everything in between. For an antiques store with this much inventory, the Iron Horse is surprisingly clean and fresh-smelling – a browser’s delight. Find it at 711 Story St.

Just across the street at 712 Story St., Urban Heirlooms drew me in with its seasonal window displays: bright shades of teal and pink and yellow, with Easter rabbits and pastel dishes. Inside, my eye was immediately drawn to the collection of old-fashioned aprons suspended by a clothesline from the ceiling, and then to the seemingly endless array of wonderful stuff stacked from top to bottom of this large, colorful store.

The sign on the door says the shop features “vintage, antiques, primitives, and repurposed junk,” and that’s about right, but what it doesn’t tell you is how much fun it all is. There’s a truly overwhelming amount of painted furniture, sets of mid-century dishes, housewares, and funky décor. One section of the shop is filled with primitive furniture in natural wood tones.

Shopkeepers were busy the day I visited but took the time to tell me that the shop has been open for two years. “It has an eclectic vibe,” one said. “We love it here! We have so much fun.” I overheard another telling a customer, who was inquiring about a custom furniture order, “We can make anything!”

The last store I visited on Saturday was Old New & Things 2 Redo. Owner Michelle Riesberg said the store has been in its current location, 809 Story St., just since last August, but it has been open for business in Boone for three years, having been previously located next to the post office. Being downtown has made a difference, Michelle told me. She and her husband were friendly and welcoming – they obviously enjoy what they do.

“We’re like a little Pinterest store,” Michelle said. “We have pieces that are already finished, or you can buy things and finish them yourself.” Eventually, the couple says, they hope to open the second floor of their business, adding another 5,000 square feet of space.

Like the other vintage shops in Boone, Old New & Things 2 Redo offers something for pretty much everyone: furniture, upcycled items, housewares, salvaged pieces from old barns, home décor, birdhouses, signage, and traditional antiques – a picker’s paradise.

I managed to find not one but two pieces to add to my collection of vintage Easter plastic: a rare pink-and-blue rabbit bank (far left) and another bank in red and yellow (center). My family will tell you I already have a whole family of red-and-yellow-plastic-pipe-smoking rabbit banks, but I’ve never found one “in the wild” with the eyeglasses intact, so I had to have him, too.

If you’re nuts about vintage, be sure to mark your calendar for the spring 2017 Lincoln Hwy Junkathon happening May 5-7 in Boone, Ogden, Jefferson, and Churdan. Find details on Facebook @LincolnHwyJunkathon.