What’s next for this popular longtime downtown Wichita store? The owner explains
With the news that the new Hutton Development purchased and is renovating the former Old Town Architectural Salvage space downtown, it seemed like a good time to check in with store owner Grant Rine.
He said “people’s desire to buy the stuff we have was going down,” but he still has about two thirds of the antiques and architectural materials he previously had.
As he told The Eagle last year, Rine moved everything just down from his former storefront at 126 N. St. Francis to 134 N. St. Francis because he knew it would take some time to sell everything. It’s now “piled deeply,” he said.
Rine is working to post items for sale online, and he plans some sales at the address later this spring.
“We haven’t figured it out yet,” he said. “We’re still brainstorming.”
Hutton Development, which is renovating the former store for either offices or commercial space, also has purchased 134 N. St. Francis but is letting Rine stay for now.
Rine said he’ll be at the space about a year, but he figures it will take three or four years to sell everything, so eventually he’ll have to move his inventory to warehouse storage where he’ll also plan periodic sales.
“A lot of our best stuff is still left.”
Rine said Hutton Development has the resources — including demolition capability, design and construction not to mention financial — to do right by the almost 100-year-old building that he called “just amazing space” with a “beautiful barrel ceiling.”
“I knew it was there,” Rine said of what Hutton has uncovered so far.
“That’s going to be really cool.”
Still, he said it was difficult to let the building go.
“Yeah, it’s part of your identity when you’ve had it 20-some years.”
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