Showroom coming soon!

I am happy to be able to announce I will soon have a showroom space! This is a big leap for me and I invite all to come by and see me soon! I will be open by appointment and since I can access the building 7 days a week, I can meet any time I am available. All furniture items will be listed on my website at 20% off my online shop prices! You MUST PICK UP any items purchased from my website by appointment. I will assist with loading but you must make sure you can transport the item and bring appropriate wrappings- blankets for safe transport. All dimensions are included in the listings. You will be able to shop in person and check out in person through my website. Cash is accepted. 6% pa sales tax is collected on all sales no matter where you live. Tax exempt folks should reach out to me so we can do things differently. Due to the fact that my items are listed on other sites, there are no holds unless a deposit is made. Payment through my website gives plenty of options and includes AFTERPAY if you apply, please see the fine print to decide if that is right for you,

I look forward to hosting special shopping hours and small events! And the best is, I will be in a building in the same complex as my booth spaces! Continue to shop there during their business hours and if I am working in my showroom, pop in or better yet, call ahead and I may be able to meet you guaranteed! My website shop is open! I will attempt to have your item ready for pick up asap. Just waiting to finalize my paperwork and get the keys!

More updates to come!

XO Malissa

New Items Alert!

I am processing and still in the process of picking some awesome new finds! My current stash is coming from a home that was full of shag carpets and 70s kitsch! It’s hard to imagine people still have this stuff anymore en masse! The Cookie Monster blue furry sectional is amazing, if you are into the 70s porn star palace look. It’s in surprisingly decent shape and I will be having it cleaned as it is too big to DIY. Stay tuned….my current pics of it are not great so you’ll have to wait. Here’s the 2 ottomans already at home. There is a chaise piece with integrated laminate table surface on the side plus 2 other sections. It literally is U shaped and the table ottoman goes in the corner. The other ottoman can be moved as necessary. It’s really a wild yet awesome piece! 2nd pic is better representation of that awesome cobalt blue color!

Also from this home and in the same color family, is an incredible dining room set by Dillingham! Less of a chance it is Milo Baughman and more of a chance it is a Merton Gershun design. The upholstery is clean! It’s like a miracle! There is degradation in the strapping suppports as they are crunchy instead of rubbery. From looking at the chair, you may be able to open up the bottom and rework them but I do not plan on taking that project on, it’s worth saving the current upholstery as it is otherwise in good shape, the finish is a dark walnut almost more like a rosewood. They are so pretty and elegant! The table is equally as sexy! I don’t have it home yet but found an online pic of what it looks like. There is also a very sexy China cabinet.

Another fabulous item I have yet to pick up is a free standing, 4 bay wall unit! It’s made in USA by Khoury Furniture but resembles a Danish Modern style. So much storage! All of the wood items are in great condition and were well cared for.

I have a variety of other items including a blond Danish style dinette set, a Danish style Yugoslavian rope rocking chair, a gorgeous walnut Bassett student desk and chair set, art, small items and a few lamps including a mammoth blue lava glaze one that was on the couch table! It’s a statement for sure! I also just processed other acquisitions including some beautiful high end Grange (pronounced Grahhhnge) My Etsy shop is the first to go live. Allow up to a week to go live on Chairish where you can get an instant shipping quote at excellent rates! Here’s a few pics of things just added!

Current views in my retail spaces! Come check out my features at my BEST prices. Thanks for your support as I have exceeded my sales goals for 2022 and am raising the bar as we close out the year! I am hoping for bigger things to come as we move into 2023! XO Malissa

McCrory Five and Dime Deep Dive

I have 9 shopping baskets availavle! Click here to see my etsy listing.

It’s literally been 20 years since McCrory’s closed up their remaining stores for good. They had already tried to Hail Mary reinvent themselves with their Dollar Zone stores, but the last McCrory stores were gone by 1997, including the one on Penn Street in Reading. Kutztown, the one we frequented, was changed into a Dollar Zone but the hey day of the five and dime draw was well past. It had been a long time since I thought about the stores and it’s even been a longer time since I patronized the Dollar Tree which is in the spot of the former Kutztown McCrory’s. That store was glorious in it’s day. You could find anything you needed there. We even bought our parakeets there and associated supplies. Any store with a pet section had my attention! On Friday’s we shopped. It was the one day mom would take my brother and I out on the town. It always includes a lunch stop. McCrory’s had a lunch counter with some booths and waitress service to the right when you entered the store. It was diner-esque in decor and design. The kitchen was open and it was a full service place. A creature of habit, I do remember my favorite and only choice was the Peachy Grilled Cheese platter which was nothing more than a toasted grilled cheese (American on white), fries and a had a canned peach on a bed of lettuce.

ACtual photo of the kutztown McCrory’s we frequented.

So the estate that I just helped out was from a former Restaurant Manager/cook at the Penn Street McCrory’s. I was able to score 2 albums that contain restaurant staff procedures and instructions plus a giant album of all the recipes for everything from sauces to salads, entrees, sandwiches and desserts! It’s a treasure trove of fun! I plan on trying some myself and would love to digitize them and make them available. I am sure I am not the only one who would be giddy by this find!

Click the following boxes for some articles I found online regarding the Berks County McCrory stores and enjoy a few snaps of some of the cool items in this stash! XO Malissa

Fun manual included in the lot,

The rules! We have SERIOUSLY gone soft since the 90’S! Also, this company was definitely lost in time!

Who knew there was a right way?

Here’s some cool ephemera I have! Training materials as well as an entire binder of recipes! It’s awesome to see especially now that uniforms have been replaced by polo shirts and other things like hair length are less of a factor as long as you have it tied back, under a hat or net. I also read in one binder that the most profitable department in the entire store was the restaurant! A friend asked me for the chicken salad recipe. I found 2. Will share those for now. I hope to scan and digitize more in the future!

See the ‘seasoned salt’ recipe below.

This one is the one i want to try!

Menu pics found on ebay!

Peachy grilled cheese Under the sandwich platters! This menu was dated 1976, which woujd have put Me in 1st grade!