Press Release
Alan Harms saw an opportunity when he bought the building in downtown Wisner to store his antiques.
The superintendent of the Wisner-Pilger Public Schools started buying and selling antiques as a way to finance his college education.
He had worked in an auction house while attending Kearney State College, but that job ended when he started student teaching.
“I took my savings and bought a $400 pickup truck, went to Lincoln to garage sales and bought old things, set them up in my house and started calling antique dealers,” he said. “I’ve been in the business ever since.”
For years, his collection was stored in the basement of his house and in a warehouse, which worked well since most of his merchandise is sold to retailers around the country.
That changed in 1999 when he bought the building.
About the same time, Lowell Hunter retired from teaching in the Wisner-Pilger school system. When Harms asked him what he was going to do, Hunter said he was going to run Harms’ antique business.
That’s when Harms recognized an opportunity to start an Internet auction service for customers who have items to sell but either don’t have access to the Internet or don’t want to do the selling themselves.
“We knew from the beginning it would not be profitable for Lowell to be here without the eBay business,” Harms said.
Now, Hunter works three afternoons a week, spending much of his time listing items on eBay for customers who want to sell salt and pepper shakers, lead crystal parrots, motorcycles and even chuch doors.
“When St. Paul Church remoldeled…we sold the old doors to a church in Main,” Harris said.
They’ve also sold a hornet’s nest attached to a tree branch and a 50-year-old bamboo fishing pole.
However, Harms said he normally doesn’t sell items that can’t be easily packaged and shipped, which means bamboo fishing poles are the exception to the rule.
Items have been shipped as far away as Hudson Bay on the Arctic Circle, where a mail plane delivers packages three times a week.
When time allows, he and Hunter post items from the store on the Web site.
“You have to be adept at describing the item in the title and the text. The more specific, the better chance you have of people finding the item,” Harms said.
- Story Courtesy of the Norfolk Daily News
