December 27, 2020.
Wow…. we’ve had a busy couple of months! The number of website followers has doubled, our on-line presence has meant that inventory has been selling very well, and we’ve invested in some more interesting inventory than we had previously been able to offer. And it’s all working!
Because this is supposed to only be a part-time gig (after all, Linda does have a demanding office management business that’s demands her attention more than 40 hours a week), our hours are inconsistent and erratic. We squeeze auctions, estate sales, inventory management, marketing, and sales in whenever we can… there are no set times when we are “open” – which is a misnomer, as we no longer have a bricks & mortar shop. It’s primarily on-line, although it is possible for someone to make an appointment to look at some of our inventory.
And of course, being the “Type A, let’s burn the candle at both ends” kind of person Linda is, there are other divisions of Heritage Collectibles in process. The first is our Nude Boutique which offers quality, classy nude art – Johnny and I loved the nude form in all of its beauty! (He thought I was nuts because I had this fantasy of opening tiny little nude art boutique shops all across the United States… but he would have gone along with it, just because he loved me so much.)
There are other ideas getting ready to start, such as Wild Heart, a website offering “A Feast For the Untamed: Ancient Ways, Fantastic Beasts and the Passion of Love”; and a couple of others rolling around in the back of my mind!
Please feel free to email us at HeritageCollectiblesMaine@gmail.com with any questions. Generally we will get back to you within a couple of hours at most!
BTW, as noted elsewhere on this site, the use of “we” regarding this business is a habit I (Linda) will probably never get over. It originated when my late husband and I started the business, and continues, even though he died over 4 years ago. It was our business together, and as far as I’m concerned, it always will be!
Also, BTW… I’ve left some previous updates on this page, although those updates are actually outdated. For example, we no longer carry inventory in other shops (although we may again at some time in the future).
November 08, 2020.
Here’s our updated information… much has happened in the two years since my previous update (below).
After John died, I tried to keep the shop going but I couldn’t make it happen, physically, financially or emotionally. After continuing to pay rent for two years on a retail space I loved, but couldn’t afford, while unable to put in the time or energy needed to at least break even (I was working at lot of hours at a full-time job as well as another part-time start up business), I finally gave up and closed the shop entirely.
My plans to reinvent Heritage Collectibles as an on-line company weren’t successful. I was tired. I was still grieving. Some of our inventory went into other shops to be sold, but I couldn’t keep up with those either and closed those booths, too, except for one. All that inventory came back home with me. (I’ve often said that with all the inventory remaining from the original Heritage Collectibles, that my house feels like I’m living in a hoarder’s paradise!)
Then this year, in the midst of April’s torrential rains, the one remaining shop where our inventory was located encountered substantial mold problems from a damaged roof the building’s owner had declined to repair, and the business closed. It took me two trips with a U-Haul cargo van and 5 trips with my Jeep to clear all my inventory… with no place other than my already full garage and home to store it.
Simultaneously, however – and in the midst of an international pandemic – I had expanded my other business which had also been based in my home, doing “virtual” office management for mental health therapists and others, and rented an office suite in town.
My expanded business needed furniture, furnishings and supplies, and had wall space for the hundreds of pieces of art that Heritage Collectibles had in stock.
It’s not only been a win-win, but has reinvigorated me! While Heritage Collectibles doesn’t have a physical location, I started attending on-line auctions and buying inventory again, and have started posting and selling some very cool (and some other, sometimes boring, items!).
It’ll be a while before Heritage Collectibles is up to speed again, because my office management business is keeping me pretty busy, but I’m happy to say that this business, that John and I loved so much, is still in existence – and I fully expect it to flourish!
Updated Info, December 2018.
Reluctantly, I’ve come to the decision that Heritage Collectibles, Books & Maps will soon be operated primarily as an on-line business, although we will maintain our booth at the Undercover Antique Mall in Oxford, and will quite likely exhibit books and other items at local outdoor flea markets when they all reopen this spring.
It started out as a great adventure for John and me back in 2014. We loved our shop, even though it was a huge amount of work (and we both had full-time jobs as well).
After John died so suddenly and tragically in October of 2016, I tried to keep the shop going, eventually downsizing by closing his bookstore at 5 Park Street (although I continued to use the space as storage for several months), and then closing our wonderful corner shop at 189 Main Street in November 2017.
The result was that I gave away and/or donated a huge amount of inventory… it began to feel like “Curb Alerts R Us”! And I had reduced our crammed full, nearly 2,000 square foot retail space to barely 600 sf filled mostly with books, and continued to try to keep it going – despite, at one point, working 80 hours a week at three other jobs.
The reality is that I should have just closed the entire shop two years ago. Without John, and our love for each other and for the business, it’s been an emotional & logistical struggle, and a constant financial drain. I couldn’t afford to pay anyone to help, and I couldn’t afford to be at the shop full-time myself.
But… I wanted to honor our dream.
However, I’ve finally had to come to terms with the reality that attempting to fulfill a dream at the expense of one’s health and financial stability doesn’t honor anyone.
So, the physical shop will close, although the business will continue, and I will continue to post blogs about our inventory on this website.
In the meantime, please visit our booth at the Undercover Antique Mall in Oxford!
BTW, if you want to purchase books or artwork in bulk at a deep discount for your own bookstore, eBay or Amazon business, or flea market, give me a yell… I’m not looking forward to moving the estimated 12,000-14,000 books into my house!
If the books go, I will also have shelving that can be purchased. And there are black metal art grids available, too (they are 7′ high, and come with wall mount brackets, and hanging clips for the art).
Black metal art grids, 2’w x 7’h.
Hours. December 2018.
The shop itself is now closed and in the process of being cleared out. If you’re willing to come poke through the disorganization, you’re absolutely welcome (although most everything will be cleared out by the end of the first week in January 2019).
Our hours are erratic, however, due to the nature of Linda’s weird schedule. Your best bet is to call or text ahead to make an appointment: 207 / 740.2247.
Main Location:
We are now primarily an on-line business, but for those living in Central Maine, there are options for avoiding shipping costs:
- We can meet you in the Lewiston-Auburn area,
- We can drop the item(s) off at the Undercover Antique Mall, 960 Main Street (Route 26) in Oxford ME, and
- With pre-payment via PayPal,
- we may be able to meet you in another local town (depending on our schedule and itinerary),
- and of course, we can always ship the item.
A Physical Location:
We have tried out booths in other shops but didn’t have the time to maintain them all, so we now are just in one other.
Oxford – The Undercover Antique Mall, 960 Main Street. (207) 539-4149.
We have some great, less expensive inventory for you to check out at the Undercover Antique Mall, seven days a week from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm! We’re in booth #56.
The profits of all Heritage Collectibles, Books & Maps (after expenses, of course) go to support The Grief Warrior Project. FMI: https://warrior-project.org.
You can also find us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/heritagecollectibles and https://www.facebook.com/groups/heritagecollectibles
And we’re on Twitter! https://twitter.com/heritagegifts.
Call or Text:
… Heritage Collectibles cell phone: 207 713 0674 (you may have to leave a message)
… Linda’s cell phone: 207 740 2247 (you may have to leave a message here, as well)
Texting usually can be responded to more quickly than a voice mail.
Email:
… HeritageCollectiblesMaine@gmail.com (this email is not checked regularly)
… LSnyder@regroupbiz.com (your best bet)
Background Info, December 2017.
From when we first opened at this location (Mother’s Day weekend in 2015), the demands of our day jobs have made it nearly impossible to keep the shop open consistent hours on Mondays through Thursdays… and we often had to close at the last minute due to an emergency, scheduling need or other issue at my (Linda’s) social work job.
With John’s sudden and tragic death in October of 2016, keeping regular hours became even more difficult. And although I tried to keep the shop going full-time while also working at a very challenging job, within a year it was clear I couldn’t keep up with it all.
However, the shop was our dream, Johnny’s and mine. He loved it and the plan was for him to “retire” into running it one day soon. Johnny had this vision of running a shop with an old-fashioned country store air, right down to a “liar’s bench” where the old guys could sit around shooting the bull and telling tall tales. (One of my happiest finds was a reprint of a painting depicting exactly this… it’s now prominently displayed in our Maine & New England section.)
Getting the shop to a place where he could retire from his very demanding day job (which he loved, despite its physical rigors) was taking longer than we had hoped, though, and John’s emotional and physical health ran out far too soon.
Rather than close the business, I eventually decided to downsize our main location and move most of the inventory to other shops here in Maine.
Our customers will remember the furniture gallery in the large long room at the back of the shop. That area is now our main location, and is primarily a used bookstore with a conference room for support groups, and a classroom for workshops and activities.
Heritage Collectibles of Maine 