Jeanie Carter’s “Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe” has a new location and triple the space of her former store at the Merit strip mall in Kenai. Formerly the warehouse location of Kenai Electric across from the Salvation Store, Jeanie has added some 4,000 square feet of custom designed display space featuring specialty rooms where she has filled every nook and cranny with everything imaginable. “When you walk in the first room you experience is what I call the European room featuring the warmth of Italy with inviting warm colors. Then from that room you enter the large warehouse that my daughter has created a very rustic feel. Here you’ll find things that you can restore or have been restored or a myriad of items that will take you down memory lane,” Jeanie told the Dispatch.
If you need something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue for your bride to be, the Curiosity Shoppe’s Bridal Room is your one stop money saving shop for all of the above. “I keep it on the small side but I keep in stock quite a few items to can make for a happy wedding day without breaking your budget. I have beautiful vintage wedding dresses and other things to outfit your wedding party so please come in and see for yourself,” she said. Another favorite with collectables galore is the Alaska Room, “In here you find everything that has come only from Alaska. From pottery to art and artifacts to furs and souvenirs. Things you might want as a special Holiday gift to send home to relatives outside.” And speaking of Holidays the Curiosity Shoppe has a special Christmas Room filled with unique and one of a kind gifts, “I recently opened my Furniture/Christmas Room and in here you can find an overwhelming amount of snowmen and ornaments and specialty décor items for the Holidays. But you should come in early as most of these are one of a kind furniture and decoration items and when they’re gone they’re gone,” said Jeanie. The design of her new space at Ye Old Curiosity Shoppe was collaboration with Jeanie’s daughter Dionne Cason, “She went to design school for two years, so I brought her in here and said okay here’s an empty pallet what can we do? I am amazed at what she did with the place and so is everyone who comes in. The variety of feelings as you go from room to room is totally amazing. But I confess it wasn’t easy in the beginning and I really didn’t know how she was going to make it work, but she said ‘Mom, just let me do what I went to school to learn to do and I did and she did and now she has Dionne by Design and operates right here out of my store,” said Jeanie. From Antiques to jars and wooden boxes to old saws and tools to old washing machines and wood cook stoves to stained glass windows, antique furniture, mirrors and trailers you won’t be able to focus on one thing very long before another will draw your attention to another of the thousands of items at the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe now in its new location and open Monday – Saturday 11:00am – 6:00pm. Look for Jeanie’s upscale re-sale buy and sell sign and bring something along or just take a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
