March 29, 2024

Five minutes with Nellie Kretz, owner of The Old Market Primitives & Antiques

HOMETOWN: Genoa, Nebraska

AGE: 51

FAMILY: Fiancé, Trevor Williams; grown children Erica, Derek and Kirk

HOW OFTEN IS THE OLD MARKET OPEN? I just changed my hours: 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

WHEN DID YOU OPEN THE STORE? April 2014. I moved to Creston in January 2014.

WHAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN ANTIQUES? I've always liked antiques. I like preserving things. I enjoy the older style furnishings and the way things used to be made rather than buying new.

WHERE DO YOU FIND ANTIQUES TO SELL? People bring things in, and I go to a lot of auctions. People will call me to buy whole households when they either don't want to have an auction or don't have enough for an auction.

WHAT TYPES OF ANTIQUES TEND TO CATCH YOUR EYE? Primitives from the 1800s, well-restored vintage pieces and family pieces people have passed down from generation to generation

WHAT TYPES OF EVENTS DO YOU HOLD AT YOUR STORE? I offer "You Kreate It" art classes, either in big groups any night of the week or in small groups during the day.

WHAT TYPE OF STYLE OR THEME DOES YOUR STORE HAVE? Vintage, country – definitely not retro

HOBBIES: I repurpose furniture that I sell. I also paint, stain, distress or whatever a customer wants on custom furniture my brother builds. I do crafts, too. I stay busy all the time and get very little sleep.

FAVORITE ITEM YOU HAVE FOR SALE RIGHT NOW: A collection of coffee grinders from the early 1900s

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE WHAT AN ITEM IS WORTH? I do my research online.

OLDEST ITEM YOU'VE DISCOVERED: The early 1800s. I purchased an 11-room estate that a woman lived in for 80-some years, and she had a collection of things that had been passed down in her family for generations.

BEST PART OF YOUR JOB: Meeting people and helping customers

MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOB: Getting people to shop uptown Creston