End of an era: Antique Emporium to close by month's end

By Jennifer McBride - Leader Staff

It's a store selling old things in an old way.

Denny Wilson doesn't take credit cards. He uses a wood stove he restored himself to heat the building. He keeps all the books by hand. For 27 years, customers have been familiar with the metallic ca-ching noise of his old fashioned cash register.

But now, that cash register is gone, sold to another business outside the county. By the end of January, Wilson will close down the Antique Emporium in Polson, packing up for good.

For Wilson's customers, its the end of an era. Wilson has been operating his business, in one location or another, for almost three decades.

"There were only about 2,700 people when I moved here," he said. "There's been some changes. Most of them are good."

Most of the rooms once crammed with everything from chairs to books to silverware are empty save for the dust. Except for a few scattered lamps, two cases of jewelry and a bed for his seven-year-old black puffball of a shop dog, Shara, Wilson said he "is 90 percent packed."

"I'm packing up the jewelry last," he said, "because it's still selling."

For Wilson, the moment is bittersweet. He is leaving to spend time working on his dream house. The shop, which is open seven days a week, has prevented him from pursuing that passion. But at the same time, shutting down leaves him with a lot of tender good-byes to say.

"I'll miss my customers most of all," Wilson said. "Without my customers, I wouldn't have had a business."

Wilson buys 75 percent of his goods from local people. He also appraises estates in Lake County and Kalispell, so he has been a fixture in the community for a long time.

Though Wilson is still living in Polson, he said a lot of his friends are acting like the end of the store is the end of their relationship.

"But I'll still run into them in the aisle at the grocery store," Wilson said. "That's where I see most of them anyway."

Wilson said he plans to continue devoting himself to old things — a passion he's pursued since a young age.

"My folks had some friends who wanted me to haul some stuff away to dump," Wilson said.

In high school, Wilson's favorite class was history, and he decided to keep some of the items for restoration. Though he didn't necessarily know it, he started then what was the beginning of a lifelong trade.

Wilson had already opened a antiques store in Colorado when he drove through the Mission Valley in 1977. Like many of Polson's residents, he fell in love with the area's natural beauty. He opened his first store in the building Nickel Cars now occupies, but in 1990, he moved to his present location, refitting everything — electricity, plumbing and paint to its needs.

"It was a labor of love," he said.

In 1996, he bought an expansion for his store. Since then, he's sold everything from collections of art glass lamps to special coins.

"I've tried to have a little bit of everything," he said. "You have to have something for everyone."

Though cartoons denouncing the Wal-Mart Supercenter have been prominently posted on his shop window, Wilson said he isn't shutting down because of box stores, though he does think the Supercenter will "drive a lot of good folks out."

If anything's cutting into his sales, it's online shopping, he said.

"eBay probably hurt my business more than anything," he said.

Websites are great places for antiques lovers to search for the perfect gift. Rising gas prices also squeezed potential customers' pocketbooks. And when it's cheaper and more convenient to shop online, Wilson saw a drop in his revenue. Most of his leftover goods won't be sold online, however, but to an auctioneer and long-standing friend in Malta.

Customers who will miss the Antique Emporium's vintage feel do have something to look forward to. Wilson's space is going to be converted into a restaurant —and Wilson said the new owners plan to keep the current decor.

In the meantime, customers can drop by and say good-bye to the Emporium, Wilson and Shara in the next few weeks. Or they can always talk to him in the grocery store.