“I want people to come in and feel like they can find something here,” Andrea Baer, who owns the shop with her husband Steve, said.

“My husband was in the Navy, and he was stationed in different parts of the world, so we have pieces here from Scotland, and we do go to auctions (too). I don’t want to have a piece and have someone say they saw it somewhere else. I want to bring something fresh to town, something of value, something different and unique.”

“A lot of times they’re looking for something for their collections, and we usually have something for them,” Steve said.

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A view from inside Adirondack Baer Antiques & Collectibles, where items like old, local postcards, dinging-room tables and chairs, beer signs, lamps, dressers, tools toys, books and more are available to buy at the store. (Provided photo — Carly Newton/Press Republican)

Vast collection

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The antique store, located at 158 Soper Road in Keeseville, recently opened their doors for the season and will close sometime in November — weather permitting.

The hours run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Since first opening their store in 2017, Andrea and Steve have continually added to their already vast collection of antiques and collectibles.

Some available items at the store include old, local postcards, dining-room tables and chairs, beer signs, lamps, dressers, tools, toys, books and much more.

They even have a “picker barn” next to their store for overflow inventory where they offer items at a reduced rate.

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Love of collecting

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Andrea said their love of collecting brought them together before they got married.

“My husband is from the area — he was born in Keeseville, but we met downstate. Before we got married, we both realized we had a love for antiques. When people were going on regular dates, we were going antique picking for our dates,” Andrea said.

“We both had houses full of collections, so when we got married … (eventually) we decided to move upstate and spend time with our son. We had owned this property from back in the ’90s, and we were coming up every other weekend in the summertime and we’d shut it down in the wintertime. We decided to move back here permanently in 2016. Then we really realized the amount of stuff we had together.”

While most of their inventory comes from auctions, estate sales and their own collections, some of their stuff is bought from local residents in the area.

“All of these pictures here were from a local photographer in his 90s,” Andrea said while pointing to framed, scenic film pictures.

“He’s very particular about his work. We sold a few pieces, but we bought a lot off of him.”

“He signed every piece for us and wrote a description of where he took it, when he took it and he framed them,” Steve said.

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COVID effects

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They said since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve noticed an increase in the public seeking out locally-made and locally-sold products from small businesses.

“When we eventually opened up at the end of June (2020) after the COVID restrictions were lifted, we could not hold desks and chairs — they were just flying out the door, because people were working from home, and kids were going to school at home so they were looking for desks and chairs,” she said.

“People had been shut up in their homes for so long that they were trying to redecorate too… anything to change up the scenery in their homes. They really came and helped out our small business a lot.”

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Working together

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Incorporating local aspects into their business has been important to Andrea and Steve, who said they try to work together with other small antique shops in the area so they all prosper.

“There are other antique stores in the area and town as well. We work together as a team,” Andrea said.

“We refer people back and forth to each other, so people will know when they come here that it’s not just a one-stop shop and that’s it. There are options to move around and see different things.”

Andrea and Steve are hopeful that businesses like Adirondack Baer Antiques & Collectables will make Keeseville a more attractive place for tourists and residents in the future.

“It’s very important for these small businesses, in any town that is looking to develop, to have something of substance to pull good people into the community and encourage the young generation that are coming up that there is a reason to get educated and come back home to continue the process and build on top of what we already have,” she said.

“People come for stuff like this, (but) we have so many historic sights around here — (Ausable) Chasm, the museum, the different stores, the brewery, the cafe, this is just an addition to that.”