Kelly Coe and her husband Richie have spent the last week getting Crickle Creek Trading ready for their opening on Friday. Photo / Bevan Conley
Kelly Coe and her husband Richie have spent the last week getting Crickle Creek Trading ready for their opening on Friday. Photo / Bevan Conley
Local farming couple Kelly and Richie Coe are a regular feature at the Whanganui River Traders market each weekend, where they sell an array of "antiques" and collectables.
Now the time has come for them to expand their operation and open an entire shop - Crickle Creek Trading at 142Victoria Ave.
The doors will open for the first time at 10am on Friday.
Kelly Coe she and her husband had been "collecting and tinkering" for the past couple of years, and that their first day at the market coincided with Vintage Weekend last year.
"I remember him [Richie] being a little bit nervous, wondering if anyone would want to buy this stuff he'd been collecting, but as he was unpacking the boxes the stuff was just flying out of the gazebo," Coe said.
"From there we just thought it would be great to continue with it, and we've been going down to the market for the past year.
"We decided just before lockdown that we wanted to open a shop, but we couldn't get hold of the guy who owned this building.
"We rang and rang and left messages, but never got any reply. It was only after lockdown that we realised it was an old number, so we got his new number and he answered straight away."
Before the Coes could move into their new premises, then Labour candidate for Whanganui, Steph Lewis, ran her pop-up shop in the store front.
"Obviously the election was delayed by a month, so our opening was delayed by a month. We took over properly on Saturday, October 17."
Since then, Coe said the couple had been working through the night to get the shop, which has a front and a rear room, ready for Friday's opening.
"My husband was up until 6.30am getting things done. Now he'll have a couple of hours' sleep before he's back here for a little pre-opening party with our friends."
One of the things the couple really liked about collecting and selling items was "using things that are already here in New Zealand", Coe said.
"We don't buy plastic, consumable products from overseas, we collect stuff from all around New Zealand. A lot of it is 80-100 years old already, and it'll definitely outlive you."
The back room at Crickle Creek Trading. Photo / Bevan Conley
Coe said that she and Richie had received great support from the local collector community, some of whom would be attending their pre-opening party and enjoying cold drinks from the vintage fridge in Crickle Creek's back room.
"We're always learning, and it's really nice that our friend Steve Hampson has some stuff in here too. He can teach us a lot.
"We're also friends with the Turakina Antiques people and Christine Stone at Antique Affairs. They're all coming to our do
and supporting one another is good I think."
Crickle Creek Traders would be open from "10ish to 4ish", Tuesday to Saturday, Coe said.
Coe said that one of her favourite items in the store was an old gas stove that was once owned by the late Ed Boyd, who founded H & A Print and was a renowned collector of vintage cars and memorabilia.
"He had a museum out in Westmere that was full of amazing stuff. He was a lovely man, and a real blessing to the community.
Coe said that she and Richie always bought stuff that they liked personally, so if they got "landed with it" they could keep it.
"We must like a lot of different stuff, because there are all kinds of things in here."
Crickle Creek Trading at 142 Victoria Ave opens today
