Station 8 has familiar face as new owner
It’s all different, but everything is the same.
That’s how new owner of The Shops at Station 8 Rachel Hopkins describes the changes to her business since she took over Nov. 1.
The store, which is known for its delightful variety of vintage and handmade items is getting back to its roots, with more local vendors and fewer store-bought items.
“I have brought the vendors back into the store. It helps pay the bills and it brings in a variety of items to fill the shop,” Hopkins said. “There’s a little bit of everything in here. If you look around, you really can find something for everyone.”
Opened in 2008, The Shops at Station 8 features a variety of items plucked from garages, estate sales and antique and craft shows. There are also handmade items, such as photography, paintings and jewelry.
For Hopkins, a long-time resident of Columbia Falls and a former Station 8 employee, the decision to own the business made sense. Hopkins’ relationship with the store began shortly after it opened in June of 2008, when she came in to shop there for the first time. It was on that first visit that Hopkins met, and began talking with, former owner Colette Gross.
“I told her that I wanted to have my own shop some day and she offered to teach me everything I needed to know. I said, all right, sign me up,” Hopkins said. “It has worked out very well and we have become great work friends. We have traveled all over the country looking for junk.”
Hopkins’s love of antiques and vintage items began at a young age and continued to grow over the years as her collection grew and grew.
“My mom was into antiques and she got me into collecting things. I had a tea cup collection and a hat collection. I had a lot of crazy collections. My mom and I had a little space at Back in Time when they were open and that’s how I got started out,” Hopkins said. “I had always wanted to have a shop since I was in my early to late 20s. I didn’t think I would do it here, to be honest. I always thought I would move away. For me, this is a great next step and now I am not planning to move away anytime soon.”
Hopkins says that her pieces at the store come from a number of different places (including a few off-the-wall places), and says that it is the thrill of the hunt that drives her and her vendors.
“Around here, men hunt. Antiquing is very much the same idea. It’s the constant search for the ‘big find.’ That’s what we all do and what it is all about. My vendors and I live for that,” she said “With things like American Pickers, everyone out there is now looking to get rich from things found in old barns. They can be great places to find items. We were driving down the road in Iowa and saw a sign for a ‘barn hoard sale’ and we had to see what that was all about. There was a ton of amazing pieces. Sometimes it is true, the junkier the place, the better.”
“I get my items all over the place. I go to estate sales and I try to get out of the area as much as possible, as do a lot of my vendors. My family lives in Iowa, so when I visit them I usually come back with a trailer load of stuff.”
Hopkins recently took a break from the store after working there for seven years, but said she had to jump at the opportunity to purchase the business when Gross proposed the idea over lunch one day. Since then, Hopkins has brought in more than a dozen new vendors to the shop but continues the traditions the shop has become known for over the years, including hosting a holiday open house and a movie night. Hopkins says she has several more events planned for the coming year.
While the store may have changed over the past month, it will continue in the spirit in which it was founded with many unique items for collectors of all ages.
“Yes, some things have changed, but people need to know that we have a little bit of everything, from high-end, handmade items to the cutest little craft snowman. There really is something here for everyone, and that is fun,” she said.