Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Figurines wait in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The shop recently moved from its old location near the Peninsula Job Center to a new building on the Kenai Spur Highway across from Salvation Army.

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Figurines wait in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The shop recently moved from its old location near the Peninsula Job Center to a new building on the Kenai Spur Highway across from Salvation Army.

Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe moves into new location

Even a stack of barn wood is worth something in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, which recently moved locations.

The worn planks leaned against the new wall inside the renovated store, but things don’t always live in the resale shop for long. Distressed things are popular as décor these days, so owner Jeanie Carter is always looking for well-loved pieces like farm windows and screen doors, she said.

“Everything’s always changing,” Carter said. “It has the décor from vintage and boutiques to today’s furniture.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The shop recently moved about a mile down the road into its new location on the Kenai Spur Highway, directly across the street from Salvation Army. The new space is approximately 2,000 square feet compared to the old store near the Peninsula Job Center, which was 1,200 square feet, Carter said. A loft above the sales floor allows for more storage, and the service door provides the employees a workspace, she said.

The shop, which is regularly open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m to 6 p.m., now features separate rooms for china and crystal and for Alaska items, as well as neatly organized shelves full of glass jars and cozily lamplit alcoves.

Warm wall colors and distressed wood trellises fill the new store, accented by tiny white decorative lights. Carter’s daughter Dionne Cason designed it to have a Tuscany feeling. Cason just graduated with a degree in interior design, Carter said.

“I just told her, ‘Okay, here’s your open palette, do what you can,’” Carter said.

The store outgrew its last location and fills its new one to the edges. It took about six weeks to move in and has now been open for three weekends, Carter said. There is still work to do – after some finishing touches on the neighboring shop, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe will move into the adjoining building as well. That space will be just for clothes, Carter said. In her last space, she had a room for clothes. Now, she’ll have a whole building, she said.

Most of the items come from Alaska, though she does have items from North Dakota and elsewhere in the country, Carter said. She said some of her screen doors are from the Ozarks, and the a beam just behind the counter comes from her husband’s grandfather’s farm in North Dakota.

Often, people moving away will drop off their furniture and unwanted items. She buys and sells, and offers furniture on consignment, she said. These days, people know where to bring their furniture — she doesn’t even have to go looking anymore, Carter said.

Carter opened the store three years ago. Her family arrived to homestead in 1957, and her passion for vintage began with holding onto memories of the them, she said.

She said she sees the story in everything. From damaged tablecloths to lace doilies, there’s a history to all the things she sells, she said. Finding an item that someone has made or loved can ensure those people are not entirely forgotten, she said.

“You just have to look at it in a different view,” Carter said.

Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Pictureframes and a moose's rack hang in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The shop recently moved from its old location near the Peninsula Job Center to a new building on the Kenai Spur Highway across from Salvation Army.

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Pictureframes and a moose’s rack hang in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The shop recently moved from its old location near the Peninsula Job Center to a new building on the Kenai Spur Highway across from Salvation Army.

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion The exterior of the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The shop recently moved from its old location near the Peninsula Job Center to a new building on the Kenai Spur Highway across from Salvation Army.

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion The exterior of the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The shop recently moved from its old location near the Peninsula Job Center to a new building on the Kenai Spur Highway across from Salvation Army.

More in News

Rep. Andi Story (D-Juneau), Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (I-Sitka), and Rep. Sarah Vance (R-Homer) watch the vote tally during a veto override joint session on an education bill Tuesday, May 20. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Dunleavy outlines priorities for special session

The Senate and House majority say the Legislature plans to consider two veto overrides.

Mount Marathon, seen July 4, 2022, in Seward, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Swiss hiker rescued near Mount Marathon in Seward

The hiker said he’d climbed a mountain and gone beyond his ability

tease
‘All the kids are grand champions’

Kenai Peninsula 4-H shows off at Agriculture Expo

Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chilson and Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney grill hot dogs at the Progress Days Block Party at Parker Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Progress Days block party keeps celebration going

Vendors, food trucks, carnival games and contests entertained hundreds

Children take candy from a resident of Heritage Place during the 68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days Parade in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘It feels so hometown’

68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days parade brings festivity to city streets

Kachemak Bay is seen from the Homer Spit in March 2019. (Homer News file photo)
Toxin associated with amnesic shellfish poisoning not detected in Kachemak Bay mussels

The test result does not indicate whether the toxin is present in other species in the food web.

Superintendent Clayton Holland speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Federal education funding to be released after monthlong delay

The missing funds could have led to further cuts to programming and staff on top of deep cuts made by the KPBSD Board of Education this year.

An angler holds up a dolly varden for a photograph on Wednesday, July 16. (Photo courtesy of Koby Etzwiler)
Anchor River opens up to Dollies, non-King salmon fishing

Steelhead and rainbow trout are still off limits and should not be removed from the water.

A photo provided by NTSB shows a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, that crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska, Sept. 12, 2023. The plane was weighed down by too much moose meat and faced drag from a set of antlers mounted on its right wing strut, federal investigators said on Tuesday.
Crash that killed husband of former congresswoman was overloaded with moose meat and antlers, NTSB says

The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska on Sept. 12, 2023.

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in