From the backstreets to the storefront

Carol Ogle has found some people don’t realize how valuable their belongings are. She and Sharon Bewick, co-owners of Backstreet Treasures, collect an inventory of otherwise forgotten items to sell.

Backstreet Treasures opened its doors in Mountain Brook Village on June 1. The 260-square-foot store is packed with antiques, collectables and unusual objects.

“We want [the store] to be inviting and make people feel at home,” Ogle said. “It’s small and we could use more space, but we try to utilize what we have and make it where people can not feel closed in either.”

Throughout the store, customers will find an array of items placed together indiscriminately: vintage Chevy and Ford signs hung over a sculpture made of tree root, a golden Buddha sitting next to a bloodhound sculpture, delicate china beneath chandeliers. Almost everything is for sale, including the antique furniture, the cigar store Indian statue standing next to the entrance and the harpoon underneath the cash register. The only item not for sale is the pharaoh holding their business cards.

“We try to target something for everybody, from children to married couples,” Bewick said. “Really, we started the store wanting to cater to the young, married Mountain Brook women who were trying to decorate their home on a budget.” 

To find these items, Ogle and Bewick visit estate sales, but they also have two pickers who help keep the store full. These pickers travel across Alabama and Tennessee, visiting estate sales, auctions and residences to find “backstreet treasures.” Once the pickers find something, they take a picture with their phone and send a photo of the item to Ogle and Bewick for purchase approval.

Bewick said she, Ogle and the pickers have found enough items to fill four storage units “packed with, what I consider, nicer things than we have in the shop.” Ogle and Bewick plan to rotate items between the shop and the storage units every two to three weeks, so customers can expect to see something new in the shop often.

The store’s window display will also be changed weekly, and Bewick said she is always rearranging the store so that people have an opportunity to see everything they have to offer.

“Carol always gets mad that I’m moving stuff around, but I move it around because you don’t see it,” Bewick said. “It makes it look different every day.”

The store is located on 2820 Petticoat Lane in Mountain Brook Village. For more information, call 617-5719 or 531-6622.