‘Pickers Paradise’ comes to Colfax
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Think of it as an all-year-long thrift sale.
Pat Knutson, owner of the Blue Butterfly antique shop and Mark Johnson, owner of the Colfax Arts & Antique Mall, have teamed up to open Pickers Paradise in the back room of the building on Main Street that houses both of the businesses.
“A lot of this is in with the stuff we buy from auctions. It is in with the antiques, and we want the antiques out of it,” Knutson said.
“Some of the kitchen appliances are new in the box. I get them at an auction, and I can’t pass them up. They are only a dollar or two. Slow cookers. A buffet server. I’ve got a couple of sets of sheets that are still in the original boxes,” she said.
The truth of the matter is — you just never know what you might find: wine glasses, plates, coffee mugs, cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers.
The items are perfectly good. Perfectly usable. They are just not antiques.
The Wexford crystal sherbet glasses, for example, that are from the 1950s or 1960s but are not antiques at this point.
“Some things I only have part of. If I have a single salt or pepper shaker, I put it out. Someone may be looking for a mate,” Knutson said.
A while back she purchased a creamer at a thrift sale, and then about a year later, Knutson found the sugar bowl mate at another sale.
“Then I had a set,” she said.
“You may have three figurines, and you broke one or chipped one. You could possibly find a replacement in here. That sort of thing,” Knutson said.
Many of the items available at Pickers Paradise would be perfect for Pinterest projects, Johnson said.
Pinterest is an Internet website devoted to ideas on how to make a variety of items.
One idea from Pinterest resulted in an owl wall hanging made out of the luncheon sets given as popular wedding gifts about 60 years ago. Forks make up the owl’s legs and feet.
If there was enough interest and someone who would like to teach, Johnson says he would be open to holding classes for repurposing items, such as using the luncheon set to make an owl wall hanging.
“I don’t like to throw things away because if I do, then I need it the next day,” Knutson said.
Knutson also is planning to have available what she calls “craft jewelry” — a single earring from a set or brooches or necklaces — that are not “good” jewelry and can be taken apart to to be used in making crafts.
“At Christmas time, we will have a lot of excess lights and bulbs. We will go by seasons for some things,” Knutson said.
Another item Knutson has made could be used as ring holders or soap dishes or someplace to keep your keys.
“We took those cute little plates that you can find anywhere (without mates or not part of a set), and we glued them to a candle holder. I’ve got one sitting at home in the spare bedroom, and I’ve got roses in it,” Knutson said.
“You can use them for soap dishes, or if they are deep enough, you can use them to set your jewelry in before you wash the dishes or something like that,” she said.
Halloween
Johnson said he saw an idea in a magazine for decorating pumpkins with odd pieces of hardware or other items.
“If you don’t want to carve a pumpkin, you could use something like this (a drawer handle) for the mouth,” he said.
“They had them all done with plates and screws and nuts and bolts,” Knutson said.
“I’ve seen where people have bought old license plates and cut out the letters and numbers to make a ‘welcome’ sign. They find enough letters. If it’s five different states or five different designs, you can find enough letters for ‘welcome,’” Johnson said.
“Everything has a purpose if you want to stop and think about it. People repurpose all kinds of things,” he said.
“We shortened up the name of the store. It was going to be ‘Pickers Paradise For Pinterest People,’ but we decided the name was too long,” Johnson said with a laugh.
Happy customer
Knutson said one customer the previous week may have been “about the happiest customer I’ve ever had.”
And all because of a doorknob.
“I had a glass doorknob that I picked up someplace, both ends of it, and she walked around (clutching it to her chest) saying, ‘I never, ever thought I would find one of these.’ Her grandpa had built the house she lives in in the late 1800s. And all of the doorknobs are of that crystal glass,” Knutson said.
Christmas items also make customers happy.
“I do a pretty good business with vintage Christmas ornaments. I went to an auction and bought two great big boxes of vintage Christmas ornaments. They are a good seller for me at Christmas time,” Knutson said.
The old Christmas villages made out of cardboard are popular as well.
“It’s kind of fun to see what people are looking for,” Knutson said.
Meat grinders
Even the old meat grinders that Knutson kept purchasing have come in handy.
“I ended up with umpteen meat grinders because I’d buy one and put it in the garage and forget about it, and I’d go to another sale and see one and buy it,” she said.
Well. A woman came in recently whose father had his grandmother’s meat grinder, but it was the missing the turn screw that holds it onto the counter when you want to grind with it.
“I said, bring it down here and let’s try it and we’ll see if we can find one. She did. And we found the part she needed,” Knutson said.
Of course now Knutson has a meat grinder that is missing the turn screw, but she doesn’t mind.
“Someone can use that one for parts,” she said.
Long history
Knutson has been buying and selling antiques for years.
“I started with my sister (Ruth) going to flea markets. Then we graduated to antique shows. Then we put the antiques on display in the house on University Avenue. And when Mark (Johnson) came to town, he came up to see me to see if I would be interested in renting space from him,” Knutson said.
The red brick building on Main Street that now houses the Colfax Arts & Antique Mall and the Cafe II Coffee Shop & Bakery has a long history too.
In its 100 years of existence, the building has housed a mercantile, a grocery store, a video store and of course, Solberg’s Ready-to-Wear.
The section of the building where Pickers Paradise is located has seen its share of enterprises as well, from Dr. Felland’s office to Dale Winget’s chiropractic office to Nataya Gunderson’s massage therapy office to The Country Shoppe to the Farmhouse Cafe, booth space rental for the antique mall, and a children’s room with stuff animals and children’s toys.
“And now it’s Pickers Paradise,” Johnson said.
Pickers Paradise operates on a “cash and carry” basis, just as a thrift sale or garage sale operates on cash and carry, Johnson said.
Pickers Paradise is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and by appointment.
“I’m pretty much down here everyday, so if there is something someone wants (other than the times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday), I can help them,” Knutson said.