Pine Emporium: From odd to exotic

Probably the most unusual item ever sold at the Pine Emporium was the mouse head mounted taxidermy-style on a plaque.
The 1886 storefront, located on Highway 126 in Pine, has been a fixture in the town, but it has changed and grown with the times. And yet for some of the store’s most unusual items, time has stood still.

Surrounded by an eclectic mix of new and old, store owners Bona Jordan and Bob Adams have collected history since 2006. They have placed it smack dab next to a sumo wrestler cookie jar, Antler Ale posters, obsolete linens, dolls and long display cases crowded with saddle earrings, vintage jewelry and pearl necklaces.

A parade of traffic streams by the weathered building, a combination business and residence that has seen many generations go by. Each generation has left a tiny piece of its time on earth in small pieces of memorabilia. Those items, crowded and jumbled on shelves and racks, draw people in for a walk down memory lane, but the great prices allow people to walk out with a memory in their hands.

Jordan knows the old adage is true: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Warren and Ginny Larson, who still own the property, sold the business to Jordan and Adams in 2006. Jordan, who learned the grocery business from her father, modeled the residence attached to the store with a nod to her past. She used the same farmhouse-red color with white trim and a black wrought-iron handrail similar to her father’s business back home in Wisconsin.
No one lives at the residence, but the rooms are packed floor to ceiling with household items, including a plethora of castoffs on the enormous rock fireplace in the corner of the old living room. Yellowed black-and-white family pictures stare at customers as they hunt through the confusion of merchandise.

Jordan’s favorite place is a former bedroom that houses her passion. She loves vintage clothing and knows each piece in that room. In a different time, she would have worn most of the items. Hats and hankies, shoes and shawls transport shoppers and Jordan to a different time.

“I’ve always been in love with vintage things,” Jordan said.

Adams loves 1950s-style items, but in his own cabin near Pine, each room is dedicated to a different, era right down to the magazines. Paper is an important part of Adams’ historical zeal, and paper collectibles figure prominently in the ménage d’ merchandise.

“Paper IS history,” Adams said.

A little less formal than a written documentation of the area, Adams shares an oral history from train lore to the fact the building housed the first business in Pine in 1886. He also brags that the area has yucca plants and lizards because its climate is milder than in the surrounding hills and valleys.

“They could have a blizzard out on 285, but we’d get just a half inch of snow,” Adams said.

The building, listed with the Jefferson County Register of Historic Places, is packed with 3,000 square feet of old and new merchandise. Just a smattering of the new items: train history books written by Tom and Denise Klinger, CO-BOY Gnome figurines lined up near racks of greeting cards, and modern displays of lotions and body creams.

Everything else is vintage: clothing, kitchen gear, textiles, books, records, sheet music, lamps, furniture, metal signs, historical photographs, jewelry, Depression glass, and lots of salt and pepper shakers.

At the back of the store is a small art gallery with local artists' work on display. Paintings and jewelry mix with work made from "reclaimed" materials such as wood, glass and wine corks. Jordan believes the art gallery is important to local artists, and the prices are fair.

“I make an effort to support local businesses,” Jordan said.

Though only approximately 100 people live in Pine year-round, the store is an anchor for the little town. The store doesn’t sell specialty items but diversifies by selling architecture pieces and windows that are a big part of the business. Both Jordan and Adams find items at estate sales and auctions. The business started small and has grown considerably.

“It started as a sophisticated rummage sale in the community center and moved to this business,” Adams said.

Meanwhile, a steady flow of customers comes through the doors of the Pine Emporium, and each one gets Jordan’s friendly greeting and an inquiry about what the customer is looking for.

Ruth Anna from Littleton is just browsing and wonders out loud:
“Who dusts all this?”

As people queue at the counter with their treasures, Adams rings up totals the old-fashioned way, by using handwritten receipts itemizing each purchase. That can take a couple of minutes. While he runs charges through the credit-card machine, nearly all customers who are making purchases admit to Adams what they plan to do with the purchase — a kind of retail confessional.

Marc and Carie Stookey have found their way to the kitchen section of the store, with its drawers filled with old spice containers, kitchen tools, pots, pans and electric clocks that hang on the wall, waiting to tell time that is probably 40 years later than the last time they were used. Time is all the clocks have to offer, and the Stookeys consider their own unhurried schedule. Carrie puts it all in perspective:

“All we need is a pizza delivery, and we’re good for the rest of the day.”

Info box:
The Pine Emporium is at 16714 Highway 126 in Pine. It’s open all year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday or by appointment. 303-838-5150.