AT JUNKTORIA, REFURBISHERS TURN JUNK INTO GOLD

VICTORIA

Junktoria has 32 booths for vendors to sell antiques and collectables in Victoria.

Junktoria is located off of SH 185 in Victoria. Junktoria was opened in 2014 by Michelle Wagner.

Photos by Shelby Miller/samiller@vicad.com

AT JUNKTORIA, REFURBISHERS TURN JUNK INTO GOLD

BY MORGAN O’HANLON mohanlon@vicad.com

Junk sounds worthless, but, at Junktoria, refurbishers like Michelle Wagner show that it’s possible to turn junk into gold.

Wagner opened Junktoria in 2014 after a lifetime of refurbishing old furniture. She began the hobby as a child watching her mother practice the craft.

At her shop on SH 185 on the way from Victoria to Bloomington, she’s one of 22 vendors who sell everything from furniture to clothing and various other antiques from the store’s booths. Wagner lives in a home behind Junktoria and refurbishevfurniture from a workshop at the back of the store.

Wagner may own the shop, but she said the single booth she fills with her own refurbished furniture is only one small part of what her store has to offer.

“I just sit behind the counter,” Wagner said. “It takes all of us to make the shop run.”

The variety, Wagner said, contributes to the surprise that makes antiquing special.

“Everybody has their own styles,” Wagner said. “I like bright, funky colors, and not everybody likes that.”

Wagner used to make repurposed items, such as an old sewing machine re-purposed as a lamp or an old farmhouse door converted into a table, but she said such items have stopped selling.

Now, she said customers are more interested in painted items.

Shopper Hillary Rosengrant, 34, has two such painted items hanging on the doors of her children’s bedrooms.

“They’re door hangers, they’re cute little butterflies with a chalkboard background,” Rosengrant said.

After getting a job driving drill bits to and from oil and gas sites in the Crossroads, Wagner decreased Junkatoria’s hours in May and now only operates on Saturdays.

Even after the change in hours, Rosengrant said she continues to find her way to the Junktoria. In her years of visiting the store, Rosengrant said she has always left the store surprised.

“You never know what you’re gonna find,” Rosengrant said.

 IF YOU GO

JUNKTORIA

4736 SH 185 361-420-1412

HOURS // 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday