Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury an old favorite at 20
FAIRBURY — It has been 20 years since Diane and Mike Pawlowski made the move to opening their own business. It could be said that the business is moving from unique to antique.
Well, maybe not really, but it is enjoying staying power.
Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury Ltd. is a specialty shop that deals with merchandise that is as the name implies — goods that are antiques or unique.
“We try to have a 25-year rule,” Diane Pawlowski said recently. “We don't order candles and soup mixes and stuff like that. We go out and hand-pick merchandise.”
Opened in October 2002, Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury has provided the area with a shop that caters to people who like items from days gone by.
The store actually got its inception in Michigan, where Diane and Mike Pawlowski were from before moving to Fairbury. They bought an old house and went to auctions to get old furniture for the old house.
The Pawlowskis moved around, by Diane's admission, “a lot for the first 15 years” before winding up in Fairbury. Work was the reason for making the move — Mike worked as an employment headhunter in Bloomington and Diane worked at RR Donnelley in Pontiac.
They found Fairbury to be a great place to locate because of the added benefit of so many auctions taking place all the time.
The couple had already been bitten by the antique bug and by the time they move to Fairbury, there was the idea of having their own shop. Once in Fairbury, they noticed a building standing empty right downtown on Locust Street.
“I just like old things,” Diane Pawlowski said. “I think there's so much character or history to something.”
Although this building wasn't formally for sale, they made an offer and the owner accepted. Thus began the homestretch run to the development of Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury.
The purchase took place in 1995 and renovations and refurbishing work took 2½ years before the upstairs, which became the family home, was complete.
“It was a terrible mess, so we started tearing everything out of here,” Diane Pawlowski said. “We filled 10 roll-off dumpsters.”
There was some time before work on creating the store took place. But in 2002, Diane was looking to change professions and left RR Donnelley. On Oct. 1, 2002, Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury opened for business.
“It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication,” Pawlowski said. “I'm working a lot more hours than people can imagine. I'm open 35 hours a week but working 45-50. It's almost a seven-day a week job, even though I'm closed for two days.”
Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We say Antiques & Uniques because not everything is an antique,” Pawlowski said. “The legal definition is 100 years old for antique. We say 25 years, preowned. We don't like common.”
The Pawlowskis get there merchandise from auctions and other places and have taken quit the business approach. Diane said that it is the merchandise that dictates what makes the store.
“It's sort of self-fulfilling for the customer base,” she said. “With books and pottery and glassware and kitchen, things like that,people know I carry that and I turn that over quickly. The more I turnover, the more I get, the more customers come back because they know I have fresh merchandise.
“I track my top sellers every month. Always in the top four, money-wise, are books and vintage kitchen. And then, it might be glassware or pottery. Sometimes toys jump into the top four. We just have big variety of items.”
Pawlowski added that the store does cater to men, as well. She noted that 40 percent of her business comes from men, and not just because they happen to be with their wife at the time of visiting the store.
The store offers military items and old tools, as well as other items that tend to appeal more to men.
And what is interesting about the customer is where it comes from. Pawlowski said that about 80 percent of her customers come from beyond a 20-mile radius of Fairbury.
“These are people who are true antiquers that want to go out for a drive and go have an adventure and stop at different antique stores,” she said. “Once they find, they keep coming back. We've built up quite a following.”
The 20th anniversary celebration is being held in conjunction with the the Specialty Shops of Fairbury annual Chocolate Frenzy event in downtown Fairbury. This event is Oct. 7-8.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury Diane Pawlowski Chocolate Frenzy
