SHIPSHEWANA —
What’s old is becoming new again at Cherry Pickers in Shipshewana.
The new store owned by Mark and Stephanie Liechty resells and repurposes items the couple find across Michiana.
“We specialize in vintage and antique furniture,” Mark said. “We refinish a lot of it but we are getting in repurposing as well.”
The couples’ journey to business ownership began after Mark became unemployed a year ago. They were without an income and he was not receiving unemployment benefits. In need of cash, he went door to door in his neighborhood offering to remove and haul away unwanted items with the intent of recycling them to raise money.
“We would get some things we could eventually sell and one thing led to another,” he said.
Now when Mark goes to a scrap yard he is usually there to buy items discarded by others.
One treasure he has rescued from the scrap pile is a large chest freezer. It was sitting on the porch of the store waiting for Mark to repurpose it as a couch. Another project he was working on for a customer was a coffee table. The large rough-planked table had been converted from an old chest the couple had found. Mark was busy this week painting some markings on the table at the customer’s request to make it resemble an old shipping container.
The surprise contained in the table is the cantilevers that allow the table to be raised up and serve as a small desk.
Another conversion in the store is an antique record player that has had an MP3 player installed to modernize it.
Not all the items in the shop are old. The couple sells gemstone and pearl jewelry. The funds from the sale of those items are used to support to orphanages in India. And Stephanie’s grandfather, Ron Beannett, has his wooden jewelry creations on display at the store.
But most of the items for sale are antique or unique. They come from the basements and homes of people wanting to downsize, scrap yards, and estates, according to Mark.
Reality TV shows that focus on “pickers” traveling around the country and buying unique Americana, has educated the public about their business, according to Mark and Stephanie.
“The show American Pickers has made what we do cool,” Mark said. “Before that we were just people who dealt with junk.”
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Related Photos
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Mark and Stephanie Liechty stand among the items in their new store, “Cherry Pickers,” in Shipshewana. Roger Schneider
Cherry Pickers recycles, repurposes Americana
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