For Angela Johnson, vintage and thrift are in her bones. Her parents have owned small businesses, specifically antique malls, for decades. Her stepmother was the first to test the waters. She loved it so much that Angela’s dad, who had been an engineer traveling all over the world, quit his job to purchase an antiques and collectibles store.

He owned it for 20 years, running an enterprise with over 100 rented booths. “He did that from the time I was a little kid up through probably 10 years or so ago,” Angela explains. During that time, her mom tried out a booth, loved it, and went on to open her own shop in Newport, New Hampshire.

“Last summer, I had to get a summer job for the first time ever,” says Angela, who teaches middle school throughout the remainder of the year. “My rent was doubled along with everyone else in our building.” So, she spent the season at her mom’s store. “I had such a good time working there I just decided I wanted to open up my own,” she describes.

Life Happens Fast

Once it was decided, things started moving quickly. Angela went on the hunt for a viable space to lease, landing on the former Family Dollar building in Jaffrey, which is 6,400 square feet. “But there were a lot of roadblocks and obstacles,” she admits.

The space was filthy after being vacant for seven years. Ceiling tiles needed to be replaced, and the floors needed to be entirely redone. The quote she received for the work was a staggering $40,000. “So we were thinking, ‘There’s no way we can afford that.’ But you know, we ended up making it happen. And Hannah Grimes was definitely a help in that process,” she says.

The connection happened when Angela reached out to Jaffrey’s economic development committee. They mentioned the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship (HGC) as a resource for local small businesses, and that was a turning point. “I had no idea what Hannah Grimes was. I had heard the name, but I didn’t know they could be of assistance,” Angela recalls.

Support = Success

Once she had tapped into HGC’s resources, incredible things happened. The Hannah Grimes team connected her with a lawyer to consult about her startup. And they helped her apply for a $5,000 grant available to small businesses, which she was thrilled to secure.

“That was amazing! We were able to do a lot of things we couldn’t have done otherwise,” she says. As evidence of her commitment, she also sold her car to get an additional $10,000 fast. And those funds allowed her to sign the lease and officially get to work in April 2023.

“We spent six weeks renovating, and we really didn’t hire anybody. It was all just friends and family coming together,” she describes. The grant funds enabled her to purchase what has become one of her favorite parts of the new shop, a cutting-edge wall system for hanging art. “They’re these rails that sit about six inches from the ceiling. They have long rods with clips that hang on them so we can hang art and move it side to side,” she explains.

As it turns out, artwork has become one of the store’s top sellers, and Angela attributes much of that success to the specialized hanging system. “There’s really no way I could have purchased that without the grant. And it’s the thing I’m most proud of at the store. It’s so awesome,” she says.

Opening the Doors

Once all the pieces were in place, Endless Treasures held its soft opening on June 13, 2023 and a grand opening on July 1 (just three months after signing the lease!). The shop now features 26 vendor booths, including vintage toys, glassware, and kitchenware. “We’ve got a man cave area with tools and odds and ends,” Angela describes.

Over 100 people have items on consignment, and there’s even a booth where nonprofits can sell and receive 90 percent of the proceeds. “I’ve probably written over $1,000 in checks to nonprofits in the area in the past four months,” she says.

Furniture is a hot commodity, and art purchases continue to increase. Recently, one painting sold for $300 and another for $500. The store is seeing a wide variety of shoppers who encounter one of Angela’s paid social media ads and travel up from Massachusetts and even as far as New Jersey or New York.

Building the Business

Open seven days a week, it takes quite a team to keep everything running smoothly. There are officially four employees on the books, and they help run the store while Angela continues her teaching career. “I go to work every day from 7 to 2:30, and then I leave and go to the store from 3 to 6. Then I work at the store on weekends,” she explains. Ultimately, she’d love to be at the shop full-time.

While many people might be overwhelmed in her shoes, she’ll immediately tell you, “I’m not stressed about any of it…I think it was just time to do it, and it has ‘boom, boom, boom’ fallen into place.”

With how rapidly the shop has gained traction, one of her goals is to work more closely with the numbers, finding the best systems for her business. “I’m definitely thinking I need to take some classes,” she says. She hopes to circle back with Hannah Grimes during the slower winter months to take advantage of coaching.

“One of the most helpful things that came from working with Hannah Grimes was being able to meet and talk about what our goals and next steps are because that kept it alive,” Angela says. She’s looking forward to harnessing more of that good energy as Endless Treasures continues to expand. 

Written by Caroline Tremblay. Photography by Little Pond Digital.