Ribbon Cutting for The Wooden Skate
Please join Meridian Township, MABA, and the Lansing Chamber in celebrating the Grand Opening of Kellie’s Wooden Skate on Friday May 4th at 12:15 pm. For more information as the planning continues, please follow her events tab on Facebook. Parking is limited so if you can, please carpool. The Ribbon Cutting will be at 12:15. Below is some information on the transformation of the original Wooden Skate to the newly renovated Kellie’s Wooden Skate- featuring a wonderful collection of new and used jewelry, modern vintage furniture and fashions from the decades.
Kellie Johnson wanted to expand her horizons and found what she was looking for right around the corner.
The Wooden Skate closed its storefront in 2012 after a nearly 40-year run as a seller of fine jewelry, antiques and estate goods. Owned by Gary Durow, the shop was renowned for being housed in a renovated building that replicated an 1880s town. The structure incorporated stained glass, tin ceilings, antique stairways, and oak columns and woodwork. The landscaped grounds featured a Victorian two-story child's playhouse, gazebo, and a "living cemetery" with wooden headstones bearing humorous inscriptions of people still "above ground." While the Wooden Skate maintained an online presence and sales on-site by appointment, Durow was looking for someone to reopen the physical doors. Johnson fit the profile. "I'm super excited to bring the Wooden Skate back to life," says Johnson. "It was the place where people came because their mom or grandma or their sister got their diamond there and they want to, too. Generations of people went there. It will be a perfect complement to Kellie's Consignments."
Kellie's Wooden Skate will retain the jewelry focus and bring a "hipster" appeal to the inventory of antiques. Customers will find items along the lines of what they might see on a show like "American Pickers"—including architectural artifacts, vintage and antique signs, and industrial antiques "It's accent pieces, collectibles, and other cool stuff people are looking for today." Kellie's Wooden Skate will feature both new and consignment inventory. Johnson is also expanding her business model at the popular Kellie's Consignment to include in-home moving and estate sales. "We started doing this all in earnest over the past year," says Johnson. "We really have a focus now. We do recycling with flair. And we do it with the help of the community." Johnson hired a full-time gemologist to work at the re-opened Wooden Skate. The shop will be staffed with a rotation of employees from Kellie's Consignments.
Source: Kellie Johnson, Owner, Kellie's Wooden Skate
Writer/Editor: Ann Kammerer, News Editor, Capital Gains
