4 • September 2019
COAST RIVER bUSINeSS JOUrNAL
BUSINESS NEWS
Continued from Page A3
Skip: “We thought the
antique malls on the Peninsula
were going to hurt us bad, but
they didn’t hurt at all because it
evolved into retired and semi-re-
tired people buying little things
here and there and putting it in a
10x10 space, hoping to get their
rent money back.”
What do you consider the
biggest competition?
Mary: “The internet.”
Skip: “The internet would be
it.”
How much do you sell in a
typical day?
Skip: “Well today I sold one
map, four ($25) chairs and one
dresser. About $300 total, which
is a decent day.”
What are some things that
were once popular before but
no longer?
Skip: “There’s been a big
change in the style. There used
to be various colors of furni-
ture, lots of oak and round oval
tables. Now everything is square
or rectangular with sharp cor-
ners and dark. Now everything
is mid-century modern, which
was junk 10 years ago. The old
dressers that had legs four or five
inches long, that was all junk too,
but now everybody wants it.”
Mary: “People are really into
the upcycled stuff. Mid-century
stuff has become much more
popular.”
What accounts for most of
your inventory?
Skip: “Chairs and furniture
is at least half. We have a lot of
tools, mattresses and box-spring
beds.”
What’s the most valuable
LUKe WHIttAKer
Skip Wilson builds and repairs furniture in the workshop behind the retail store. He estimates he’s made more than 50
tables, including his latest project, pictured.
item in the store?
Skip: “A ($1,000) stainless
steel display case. It came out of
an old garage.”
As a buyer, what’s some-
thing you’re always looking
for?
Skip: “Dressers are the big-
gest things. I used to think it was
queen headboards. The thing we
sell the most of are small tables,
so we have a lot of those.”
What are some of your earli-
est memories of the Peninsula?
Skip: “My first relatives came
to Willapa Bay around 1832.
They came here to cut trees and
Skip credits
mary with ‘do-
ing all the work,’
which often in-
cludes cleaning
the furniture
among other
duties. “He’s the
driving force,
the steady en-
thusiasm,” mary
said. “I’m more
fits and starts.”
truck them to San Francisco for
pilings. They stayed here perma-
nently around 1873, when my
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grandfather came to Naselle. I
was born in 1934 in the Seaview
Hospital.”
What’s a memory from your
childhood that resonates with
you?
Mary: “When Skip was 5 he
had a pet seal.”
Skip: “Her name was
‘Minga’.”
How did you acquire a seal?
Skip: “We were out on the
beach clamming. We were com-
ing back off the beach and we
noticed a seal was dead in the
surf with a little one right along-
side her. She was only about
six or eight inches long. We
brought her home and nursed
her with a bottle and named her
‘Minga’. We had her for three
years. We would swim at Drunk
Skunk Hollow, one of the out-
let streams from Black Lake. At
that time there was no road north
of Long Beach to Ocean Park,
Sandridge was the main road
and it was gravel. It was hard on
‘Minga’ trying to wiggle through
that gravel so we had a little red
wagon we towed her in. The dogs
hated it — they were really jeal-
ous. When we got down to the
hollow and went swimming we
could grab ‘Minga’ by the back
flipper and she would pull us
through the water.”
What did you feed her?
Skip: “We fed her table scraps.
That’s what caused the problem,
because her skin started get-
ting bad. We took her over to the
aquarium in Seaside. The guy
there said she needed more fish.
We were poor and didn’t have
any money, so we gave her to
him.”
What part of your business
do you enjoy the most?
Skip: “What I’m doing right
now, talking to people.”