'I like the weird, the different': New shop in Leicester celebrates quirky nostalgia

LEICESTER – Whether it is a love note on the sole of a shoe from 1905, or a VHS tape of a cartoon from 1992, there’s a good chance that Hayley Worthington’s shop on a tiny plaza at 19 South Main St. will have them on display.

The face of a childlike harlequin on canvas and another of the shopper coming through an old mirror fill the wall to the right of the entrance of Vintage Rebel Curiosity Shop.

In front, plush toys, which have been smiling for decades, give you a stare while sitting next to a Napoleon Dynamite figurine.

Those are a few of the items at Worthington’s shop, which she said was named after a quick internet search for words that often go along with the word "Vintage.”

But for the 25-year-old, the name of the shop is not as important as what’s inside.

“I like the weird, the different,” said Worthington. “You find here what you can’t find anywhere.

“I try to keep it unique.”

Unique is one way to put it.

After the plush toys, the shop stretches out to the left, where the bulk of Worthington’s collection ‒ including clothes, books, toys and ornaments ‒ fills a room.

Don’t be surprised if a chiweenie by the name of Kiwi comes to greet you first.

At the end of the room, in front of where a $1,200 guitar hangs on the wall, a 13-inch TV with a VHS slot plays a 1992 animated film, "FernGully: The Last Rainforest," above a wooden nightstand.

The setup is intended to bring shoppers to a different place in their lives.

“One of our biggest goals,” said Hannah Bazin, a Millbury jewelry maker who helps Worthington run the shop, “is for people to walk in and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I remember this from my childhood,’ or ‘I remember this from my kid’s childhood.’

“Whenever we see an item that makes us excited, we hope that it does the same for everybody else.”

The shop is on Bisco’s Plaza, in the same space where Wildfire Antiques & Gifts did business for a few years.

Worthington, of Sturbridge, had been working there for about six months. She took over the space when the previous owner decided to close.

She opened the doors to the revamped shop last November, filling her inventory with items from about 40 vendors. Some are candlemakers; others, like Bazin, make jewelry.

Things get even quirkier, such as a collection of Boston police records from the late 19th into early 20th centuries, including mug shots.

Local musicians and artists also supply items to Worthington. She tries to give priority to women and LGBT vendors.

“The goal is to get out there and find more cool vendors,” said Worthington. “I’m a wicked nostalgia person; I'm very sentimentally tied to objects.

“I love that feeling of watching other people have that nostalgic feeling when they come and start touching items and say, ‘Oh, my grandma had this. I have to bring it home, it has to be mine now.’

“It's just it brings people such a joy.”

The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Vintage Rebel Curiosity Shop celebrates quirky nostalgia in Leicester