Antiques and Collectibles: Business showcase their buildings' roots - Post-Bulletin

As a means of preserving a piece of history, business owners are increasingly interested in setting up shop in old, unique buildings. Many of these business owners also are restoring these buildings just enough to be functional, but they still leave an impression of the former business that used to occupy the building.

Some of these buildings once were gas stations, where a garage door may be used as an entry. Or maybe the building once housed a bank and is the current home of a bakery.

Because of the uniqueness of these old buildings, some who run businesses out of them take the opportunity to showcase the building itself. At the Catch My Thrift consignment shop in Stewartville, Stacy Hanson says she worked to retain some of the history of her shop, which once was a bakery.

“The inside back was changed to conform to my needs by my landlord," she says, but "if I can remember correctly, the back where most of my store is was added by my uncle Jerry Allen, the former building owner.

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