Village Squire, 1980-03, Page 12Martha Hook and Kendra Papple admire an antique
cheese dish and Tiffany -style lamp, some of the
antiques available at Seaforth's Tree Trunk store. The
lamp was restored by local craftsman Elmer Stephen-
son, who works stained glass. (Photo by Gibb)
BY ELAINE TOWNSHEND
"If we don't have it, we'll get it; if we
can't get it, we'll make it." That's the
policy of The Tree Trunk, an interesting
store in Seaforth specializing in new and
used furniture and appliances as well as
antiques and collectables.
Tom and Dawn Papple of R.R.#4,
Seaforth opened for business four months
ago with help from John Fisher of Clinton.
Tom, an auctioneer and farmer, admits
he's one of those people with "auction
fever." He intended to use the building on
Main Street for an auction room, but with
5,000 square feet of floor space, the trio
decided to combine the auction room with a
PG. 10 VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1980
The
Tree
Trunk
A new store
branches out
in an old Seaforth bakery
used furniture store to keep business
running between sales. The concept of the
store caught on quickly with local shop-
pers.
At the front of the store is a large
showroom filled with chesterfields and
chairs, coffee tables and wooden dining
room tables and chairs, china cabinets,
beds, dressers and kitchen appliances,
Targe and small. The Tree Trunk offers a
few antique pieces, such as wooden tables,
china cabinets and ironstone plates as well
as new furniture, such as wooden chairs
that are a reproduction line of the old
Hiawatha chair.
Best sellers so far have been wooden
dining room tables and chairs and small
wooden desks. People seem to be buying
articles that are used every day rather than
luxury items that might not be used all the
time, such as couches and fancy coffee
tables. Some antique items might range as
high as $1,200 to $1,500, while the average
price for the faster -moving used furniture
is $100.
The main purpose of the store is to
provide a wide selection of good used
furniture. Tom points out that an apart-
ment or house can be furnished with
almost new furniture at less than half the
price of new furniture.
NEWLYWEDS TO MOTHERS
Customers range from newlyweds to
mothers with kids leaving home to attend