A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING AND A TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

by
Helen M. Davis

For Angelo Verno, the work he has undertaken for the past twenty years is pretty much destiny, though it took him awhile to find his way to it. Raised in Junction City, he grew up around antiques, thanks to parents who were avid collectors.

After graduating from Junction City High in 1983, Angelo attended the University of Oregon where he earned a degree in Journalism, a natural fit after working for the Junction City times while a teen. This led to a stint at the Eugene Register-Guard where he worked under John Conrad culling scores for the sports section. The newspaper gig lasted two years after which Verno made the move to Taiwan to teach English.

It was while there that Verno’s outgoing nature led him to befriend a man who was high up in the department store business. This acquaintance led to Verno becoming a buyer who specialized in electronics, food stuffs, housewares, Italian suits for men, and women’s clothing from New York. He was good at what he did, and he enjoyed it. Verno also became friends with a flight attendant at this time who later became his wife. Life was good and he was happy. But home began to beckon.

It was in 2001 that he could no longer ignore the growing desire to come back to Junction City. Upon returning, Verno took a job at River Road Secondhand, and it was here that destiny took hold. Two years later, Verno left to start a business of his own, and Junction City 2nd Hand was born. It took some searching to find just the right locale, but Verno settled opening up shop in a building on the corner of 6th and Ivy that has undergone several incarnations. During Junction City’s early years of the 20’s and 30’s, the building served as a car dealership. In the 40’s it became a grocery store. In the 70’s Reed’s Second Hand did business here and in the 90’s, several different businesses called this address home.

From the first, business, in Angelo's words, “took off like a rocket,” and twenty years later, he is still doing well. Customers are more like friends, and the store has expanded several times to become a series of rooms that were once small apartments. Inventory consists of everything from vintage jewelry boxes to knickknacks, to tools, to DVD’s, to bookshelves, to just about anything else one can envision.

Merchandise comes from those who bring it in and from others who call because they are moving and want to bring in those belongings they are unable to take with them. Two employees who have been with Angelo for sixteen- or seventeen-years travel to homes to retrieve the large items.

Angelo says he has had everything in his store from a sauna to a collection of 20,000 VHS tapes, to go-karts. His best-selling items besides books and tools are end tables and a high boy dresser. Dynamics have changed over the years, Verno says, as people are buying a lot less large items than they used to. Also, where previously 80% of what he sold was antiques with the remaining 20% being new, these percentages have flipped as younger people, Angelo has observed, don’t seem to care about an item’s vintage.

After two decades in the business, Angelo has reached a point where he would like to “explore more of the world” and the call of family is proving too strong to resist. Leaving the business to see what else life has to offer has been heavily on his mind. He admits he won’t miss having to be somewhere every day. However, Verno is faced with a bit of a conundrum where the future of the store is concerned. The landlord of the building passed away in his sleep a week ago, and now that he is no longer here to collect the building’s fate is left in the hands of a pair of brothers who have not made it clear what they may do.

The building is historical due to its age, but it is not in the best condition. Verno has heard that Walgreens has shown interest in building at this location. This would mean the end of the almost century old building. If this does not come to pass, Verno will sell his business so someone else can discover their own destiny, perhaps. Otherwise, he will have to have sales to purge himself of his merchandise.

It’s been a satisfying run, this second-hand business of his and Angelo will miss the customers he has come to know so well. But there is a time for everything, and now it is time for Verno to see what’s next. Though Junction City will always be home, life beyond the walls of his store beckons and he is eager for new adventures whether that be traveling or perhaps buying and selling online. Once the store is empty, he says he may drive by and remember it fondly. It’s a sure thing, his customers will remember him the same way.