OTTERVILLE – Heather and Dallas Sickels are announcing the opening of their store Otterville Odds & Ends on Monday June 2.
The store is located at 175 Oak Street in Otterville just off Otterville Blvd. It will feature new and used items they have collected over the past few months.
Last October they decided to get into the business of buying and selling items from abandoned storage lockers, as seen on a few reality TV shows. They were very pleased with the first unit they won in an auction as it had a commercial ice cream machine and a commercial donut icing machine that they could readily sell. Another great find was cardboard box that contained a broken cash box disguised as a book. The ‘book’ contained enough money to pay for the entire storage unit.
“That’s the thrill of the hunt,†said Dallas.
The down side of course are the sketchy units. They have come across units with drug paraphernalia.
“We’ve learned to sort through the units wearing gloves,†said Heather. “After buying the unit we are responsible for taking the trash and disposing of it properly.â€
The couple is careful to wash or sanitize everything before it goes on the shelf.
“I know I would not want to wear a shirt that wasn’t cleaned,†said Dallas.
In addition to items from storage units, they couple has made connections to bid on ‘liquidation pallets,’ items from large stores that are going out of style or shipments that may have been partially damaged but individual pieces are still good.
Some items that are good but the couple does not want to keep in their inventory, are donated to the Camp Courageous store in Manchester.
The Otterville Odds & Ends store will feature clothing, toys, tools, fishing and outdoor gear, greeting cards, jewelry, house and kitchen goods, furniture, shoes, memorabilia, etc.
The couple also keeps a ‘wishlist’ of items people are interested in purchasing, but may not be in the current inventory. They also are open to purchasing units before they go to auction.
The grand opening will be 8 a.m. Monday, June 2. Going forward, business hours will be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays — 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays — 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Closed Sundays and Mondays.
For more information check out ‘Otterville Odds & Ends Store’ on Facebook, email OttervilleOddsEndsStore@gmail.com, or call 319-326-9344.
Happy hunting!
