Posted 9:08 pm Sunday, December 23, 2012
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Tyler shop offers collection of hard-to-find items
BY CASEY MURPHY
cmurphy@tylerpaper.com
Holding up a full-length gold sequined gown, Jody Walker recalled wearing it to a New Year’s Eve party at Reunion Tower in Dallas about 30 years ago.
cmurphy@tylerpaper.com
Holding up a full-length gold sequined gown, Jody Walker recalled wearing it to a New Year’s Eve party at Reunion Tower in Dallas about 30 years ago.
The formal dress is one of many Ms. Walker has taken from her collection to sell at her new business, Hacienda Gallery in Tyler.
“I’ve really sold more clothes and jewelry than anything,” she said.
Most of it comes from her collection, as well as her mother’s. She has also amassed vintage finds from her good friend, Elizabeth Peerson, who passed away about two years ago and left them to her. “She was one of those rare people you meet in life — your mother, your sister and best friend,” she said of Ms. Peerson.
At Hacienda Gallery, on the corner of Gentry Parkway and North Broadway Avenue, Ms. Walker offers dressy attire, fake fur and sequins, boots, shoes and jewelry. She said she carries some expensive antiques that belonged to her mother, as well as vintage clothes that “you can’t find anymore.”
Ms. Walker shows off fox collars from the 1930s that belonged to her aunt Margie. She said she knows it’s time for them to go, but sometimes she also hopes they won’t sell. “I hate getting rid of them,” she said.
Ms. Walker also has antiques, collectibles, new and vintage art, Asian screens, Christmas and other holiday decorations, glassware and other kitchen items and a few furniture pieces, such as her Aunt Margie’s peach antique couch and a handmade brass bed from the 1920s that she found in an estate sale.
“There’s a little for everybody,” she said. “It’s just full. … I haven’t even emptied my attic. I don’t know how you end up with all this stuff.”
She said she has always enjoyed yard and garage sales and used to shop at high-end resale boutiques in Dallas.
“Me and my mom always talked about doing something like this together,” Ms. Walker said of opening the business. “It’s great at this time in my life to be able to include my mother.”
Most of it comes from her collection, as well as her mother’s. She has also amassed vintage finds from her good friend, Elizabeth Peerson, who passed away about two years ago and left them to her. “She was one of those rare people you meet in life — your mother, your sister and best friend,” she said of Ms. Peerson.
At Hacienda Gallery, on the corner of Gentry Parkway and North Broadway Avenue, Ms. Walker offers dressy attire, fake fur and sequins, boots, shoes and jewelry. She said she carries some expensive antiques that belonged to her mother, as well as vintage clothes that “you can’t find anymore.”
Ms. Walker shows off fox collars from the 1930s that belonged to her aunt Margie. She said she knows it’s time for them to go, but sometimes she also hopes they won’t sell. “I hate getting rid of them,” she said.
Ms. Walker also has antiques, collectibles, new and vintage art, Asian screens, Christmas and other holiday decorations, glassware and other kitchen items and a few furniture pieces, such as her Aunt Margie’s peach antique couch and a handmade brass bed from the 1920s that she found in an estate sale.
“There’s a little for everybody,” she said. “It’s just full. … I haven’t even emptied my attic. I don’t know how you end up with all this stuff.”
She said she has always enjoyed yard and garage sales and used to shop at high-end resale boutiques in Dallas.
“Me and my mom always talked about doing something like this together,” Ms. Walker said of opening the business. “It’s great at this time in my life to be able to include my mother.”
Her mother, JoAnn Strickland, 80, helps her with Hacienda Gallery.
She said the older and busier people get, the more they feel they don’t have time for everything. “You don’t even stop to smell the roses, so it’s nice to be able to do this with her,” she said.
Working in the funeral business for so many years taught her every day could be her last. Ms. Walker worked as a family service counselor for a funeral home for 12 years in Tyler. She grew up in Dallas and worked for her father’s advertising company for years. She has also lived in New Jersey, New York and Florida.
“I’ve been in sales mostly all of my life,” she said.
Ms. Walker moved to Tyler in 1993 after her parents left Dallas to retire to Holly Lake.
Before she could open Hacienda Gallery, her brother, Kenny Walker, spent about six months renovating the property she said was in bad shape. Work to the building included redoing the stucco, repainting and building hand rails for the outside stairs.
The 5,000-square-foot building is split into two, with her store taking up the left side and the right side acting as storage and her workshop.
She said the older and busier people get, the more they feel they don’t have time for everything. “You don’t even stop to smell the roses, so it’s nice to be able to do this with her,” she said.
Working in the funeral business for so many years taught her every day could be her last. Ms. Walker worked as a family service counselor for a funeral home for 12 years in Tyler. She grew up in Dallas and worked for her father’s advertising company for years. She has also lived in New Jersey, New York and Florida.
“I’ve been in sales mostly all of my life,” she said.
Ms. Walker moved to Tyler in 1993 after her parents left Dallas to retire to Holly Lake.
Before she could open Hacienda Gallery, her brother, Kenny Walker, spent about six months renovating the property she said was in bad shape. Work to the building included redoing the stucco, repainting and building hand rails for the outside stairs.
The 5,000-square-foot building is split into two, with her store taking up the left side and the right side acting as storage and her workshop.
Ms. Walker plans to turn the second half of the building into the Hacienda Funeral Home in about six months, she said. It will be a full-service funeral home that will cater to the Hispanic community and their customs, she added.
Ms. Walker also is using her new business to hold a Christmas toy drive for neighborhood kids whose families need help.
She does consignment in the shop, and is now carrying merchandise from three other people. Customers can put some of the items on lay-away and she will negotiate some prices to some degree, she said.
Ms. Walker has found that younger customers have come in liking the vintage clothes and jewelry while older customers like the antiques.
“I’d like to somehow make money but to also give back to people,” she said of her business.
Ms. Walker also is using her new business to hold a Christmas toy drive for neighborhood kids whose families need help.
She does consignment in the shop, and is now carrying merchandise from three other people. Customers can put some of the items on lay-away and she will negotiate some prices to some degree, she said.
Ms. Walker has found that younger customers have come in liking the vintage clothes and jewelry while older customers like the antiques.
“I’d like to somehow make money but to also give back to people,” she said of her business.
