Victoria Purdum is one of several family members who recently opened ABC Antiques & Collectibles on Sabattus Street in Lewiston after moving the shop from Brunswick. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
LEWISTON — Three sisters started ABC Antiques & Collectibles in Brunswick three years ago. When the traffic pattern changed and people started blowing past them, the sisters decided to cruise over to Lewiston instead.
Wheaton bottles at ABC Antiques & Collectibles on Sabattus Street in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
The new store opened Monday at 1065 Sabattus St.
“Our first sale was to a teenager who bought a pocket watch — I took a picture of him,” said Victoria Purdum. “The same boys wanted their mom to get them the knives (behind the glass counter), but she wouldn’t do it.”
The three sisters — Penny Chase Smith, Cindy Chase and Trudi Chase — named the store after their mother, Annette Beryl Chase, who died in 1980, and use one of her old photos for the shop sign.
Trudi Chase said the inspiration came from the sisters’ new hobby, going to auctions together.
“We really enjoyed the auctions and what we were getting,” she said. “I decided we had to open an antique shop or we were going to be hoarders. We decided to honor my mother with the store, honor her name. She would like the antiques and she would like the fact of us all working together.”
The store is entirely family-run. Purdum, who was behind the counter Tuesday, is married to Trudi, and other in-laws pitch in as well.
A pocket watch was the first item sold during the grand opening of ABC Antiques & Collectibles on Sabattus Street in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
The new space is 80% larger than what they had in Brunswick, Purdum said.
“There’s so many things from so many different eras, different countries,” she said. “Some of these pieces, they didn’t even show as well at the old place, it was darker. This, we can really showcase things and really get sold a lot easier because people see them.”
Rooms are filed with chairs, tables and other furniture, paintings, glassware, full china sets, a model ship built at the Maine State Prison, toys and a broad selection of jewelry.
On ABC’s opening day, customers bought an old baking sifter, an antique lighter and a tall corner hutch.
The people who bought the hutch “were just here visiting family but they’re going to come back from out-of-state later this month and pick that up,” Purdum said. “A lot of people like just to look and things strike them.”
Many come in, see something they remember from childhood and do a double take, Trudi Chase said.
“I enjoy it when other people like what I like,” she said.
Coca-Cola pitchers and bottles at ABC Antiques & Collectibles on Sabattus Street in Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
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