Have a Seat!

Come on in!

Have a seat!
We're glad you're here!

Pull up a chair!

There's plenty to choose from!

Some are interesting.

Some are comfy.

Some of them are tall,

There's even room for you to bring a friend.

And if you find one that you like, you can always take it home with you to enjoy for a long, long time!

Distressed Kathy (Booth 240)

Meet Kathy from Booth 240. She has been at YesterNook since the doors opened . She has also been YesterNook owner Patti Cape's friend since first grade. She has always been a very talented artist. In the 80's she sold her tole painted items at arts and craft shows in the area. She is also a talented seamstress. Nowadays when she isn't being Rosie the Riveter or working her full time job she is busy painting and distressing furniture.  Her booth is right inside the back door.  You will always find beautiful pieces of furniture that Kathy has given new life to.

Kathy has a natural talent for finding the right pieces and matching the right colors. She says she sees them in the colors they should be. She also names them all!

There is no job too big or too small for our Kathy.  Check out the before and after pictures of this great China Cabinet.  It's hard to believe it's the same piece. It found its new owner in less than a week!

If you are looking for that special piece you  better check us out often because you never know when it may show up and it usually doesn't last long.

It's always exciting to see the next piece Kathy brings in to the store.  If you haven't her great pieces, please stop by YesterNook soon.  If Kathy happens to be in, she loves visiting with customers so be sure to say hello!

Congratulations

We need to take a moment to recognize one of our own.  She's done something that others have not been able to do.  For that we applaud her and say: "Good going!"

Sharron Smiley, YesterNook manager, smoked almost all her life, from her teen years onwards.  In November, she quit.  And she's been smoke-free ever since!  We wanted to recognize her for this great step she's made for her health and for the health of others.

Next time you're in the store, congratulate her.

A short, fanciful history of collecting

The roots of the human habit of collecting things are most likely lost in the mists of time, but it could have gone something like this:  One of our earliest caveman ancestors, let’s call him “Ook,” probably took a liking to something, say shiny black rocks.  He probably liked the way they looked in the firelight in his cave or something.

At any rate, he decided to start saving them and arranging them in and around his cave.  It probably wasn’t too long before his sister, “Uklah”, noticed and thought the rocks were kind of pretty.   She didn’t want to collect rocks, but she always liked the big, pink seeds that she found on the jungle floor.  Soon, she has a nice collection of her own going.

If we skip forward a few thousand years, when people are settled into towns and villages, the opportunities for collecting have expanded.  With many more people living together in community and established households, the need for goods developed, along with the skilled tradespeople to create and sell them.  In addition to practical items, like dishes or pans, there were also more skilled artisans who could make things like figurines, which would become the next generation of collectibles.

As the idea of upper classes and royalty and nobility developed in society, collecting kind of naturally became settled with those classes. They were the ones with the time, money, and prestige to acquire, display, and maintain large collections of items.  The Dowager Duchess of Austrohowa naturally had a large collection of miniature mother-of-pearl inlaid porcelain portraits of the Kings and Queens of Rumania.  She was the Dowager Duchess!  Many items from this period remain with us as museum pieces or very high end antiques.

If we move up into more modern times, we can see that the development of things like set work hours and wages, along with economic boom times, laid the groundwork for a culture of collectors.  Dad had extra time after work, so he needed a hobby.  The next thing you know he’s collecting cork ducks.  And soon, he’s teaching Junior about them.  And, some day, the collection gets passed on to someone.

So, we come to more recent times, where things are actually manufactured with the intent that they will be collected.  Yet, alongside this phenomenon, there are still all kinds of people starting all kinds of collections of interesting items, just because they want to.

Lots of kids’ toy lines are built around the idea of “collecting the whole set.”  This can actually help children learn organization and memory skills that can help them in other areas of life.  Adults still find that having a hobby or collection is a nice way to relieve stress and relax after work or on the weekends.

YesterNook is proud to be a part of collection history that goes all the way back to Ook and Uklah.  From salt and pepper shakers to Pez dispensers, you’ll never quite know what you can find here!  We’ll be glad to try and help you fill holes in your existing collection or start a new one!

You know what?

We've got some

GREAT RACKS

around this place!

You never know what you're going to find at YesterNook!  Come check us out!

January News: What's the Good Word?

We'd like to extend a YesterNook welcome to our newest vendors, Debbie and Gary, who are using booth number 333!  Stop by and check out their space.  Maybe you'll even get the chance to meet them and say "Howdy!"

By the way, most vendors (not just the new ones) like it when you take a chance to chat when you find them in their booth.  I know it may look like they are very busy adding new merchandise and rearranging things, but many of them like to take time out and chat with customers, even if it's just to say "Hello."

Feedback from customers is very important to vendors, but it's something that they don't often get, because they come and go at such different times throughout the week.  We cannot tell you how much it can make a vendor's day to hear from somebody that shops in their space on a regular basis.  Many vendors are also collectors, so they like to chat with people who share their interests.

If you are looking for something in particular, it never hurts to ask a vendor to keep an eye out for it.  For example, let's say that you are into Mission style furniture, but are having a hard time finding a certain piece.  Talking with a vendor who also knows about Mission furniture may turn up some new leads for you.  It certainly helps a vendor make decisions about things to buy for their booth.

YesterNook is as much about the relationships that people form in the store as the things we sell here.  Next time you stop by, take some extra time to chat.  We'll all be glad that you did.

Resolutions

Happy 2013 to all our friends and friends-to-be!  We hope that everyone has a healthy and prosperous year filled with wonder and opportunity!  Don't forget to have your traditional black-eyed pea meal today. While you're doing that (and enjoying the ball games), we'd like to share some thoughts about another New Year's tradition:  resolutions.

Every year, with the best of intentions, many of us plan for self-improvement for the new year.  Unfortunately, most of us only last a few weeks, despite all those good intentions.  At YesterNook, we'd like to help our friends make their goals this year.  When you think about it, there are lots of ways that we can become a part of your support system this year, when you make your resolutions.  We'd like to offer the following ideas to all of you resolution-makers out-there.

If you resolve to get out more, or watch less TV, or spend less time online, or something similar, consider that it's easier to meet this goal if you have a planned alternative to these activities.  After all, you can't get out more, if you don't know where you're going.  Why not make YesterNook one of your destinations?  Surely browsing through the many treasures we have to offer will beat watching re-runs of CSI.

Likewise, if you resolve to meet new people, come on down to the store and make a new friend!  Remember our motto:  Enter as strangers.  Leave as friends.  We've seen it happen over and over again.  YesterNook regulars are more than just customers to us.  Getting to know so many wonderful people is an unforeseen, but very welcome, outcome of opening the store.

If you want to get more involved in the community or you want to give back in 2013 or you want to try to make a difference, why not increase the amount of time and money that you spend in small local businesses?  Everyone wins when our locally-based economy is sound.

What if you decide that you need more exercise or you want to get in shape?  Well, if you live in the Schnitzelburg/Germantown area, why not make YesterNook a destination for some of your walks?  If you don't live nearby, surely you can have as much fun climbing the steps to the second floor as you would on some old stair-climbing machine.  How do you think all our second floor vendors got so fit?

Do you think you want to spend more time with friends or family this year?  Well, you'll need to make plans to do it and that means having things in mind to do together!  Why not make your first outing a trip to YesterNook?

Do you want to start a hobby in 2013?  Well, not only do the folks at YesterNook know an awful lot about many different kinds of collectibles, but you can find tons of them in the store.  From comic books to records to salt and pepper shakers, if you can collect it, you can probably find it here.  If you're more of the project-oriented, DIY type, don't forget that we've got a garage full of great stuff that needs a little elbow grease.

If you want to read more, we've got plenty of books, plus the Tiny Bookshop!

Finally, if you resolve to save money this year, don't forget that we've got some of the best prices in town on furniture, dishes, glassware, and a whole host of other items.

Whatever you want 2013 to be for you, we do hope that we can be a part of it at YesterNook.  We're excited about the new year and hope to see you soon!  Take care!