Serendipity, an antiques store in Alexandria, has seen some pretty unique items from the past, including a hatter’s hat clamp and an old speakeasy cabinet disguised as a bookshelf.
Locals Lori and Jack Walters opened the store in April 2019. Before it was called Serendipity, the building housed a bookstore/café, a hunting supply store, and a general store at various times. The building itself is historic—it was originally built around 1896 as the Alexandria Bank, and you can still see the name etched into the concrete.
Lori Walters said she always wanted to have her own business where she could do what she loved: antiques and home decor.
“Lori worked in retail for almost 30 years and always worked for someone, so we were always interested in having our own business,” said Jack Walters. “I was already out of the military and was getting ready to leave my engineering job at Toyota, so we thought the timing was pretty good since it gave me something to do to stay out of trouble.”
The Walters used to source their inventory by attending estate auctions in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, but now that they’ve made a name for themselves, people are turning to them. For example, if someone’s grandmother dies and a family has a household full of antiques or collectibles, they might turn to Serendipity.
About 80% of the store’s inventory is furniture, home accessories and collectibles, and 20% is products from local makers, such as fudge, jam and jelly. The Walters said they try to support local makers.
They’ve even helped launch other businesses. Priscilla Brownfield, owner of Bored Game Café on Main Street, started with a show at Serendipity, which helped her build a customer base and make money before opening her business in Alexandria.
Many treasures come through the doors of Serendipity and tell stories from the past.
“We see a lot of functional things from the past that we take for granted today,” said Jack Walters.
One of Jack Walters’ most memorable items was a Prohibition-era speakeasy cabinet. The front looked like a bookshelf, and the back opened so you could put liquor inside and lock it away.
“The beauty of having this store is that you can just learn why they did it that way or what they used it for,” said Lori Walters. “Because sometimes you look at something and think, ‘I have no idea what that is. We’re trying to figure it out.'”
She said many of the items, particularly the furniture, showed the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into them. Jack Walters said the oldest piece of furniture they owned was built in the 1830s and that it was impressive that it had lasted nearly 200 years.
“What I like about it is the variety of people who have used it,” Jack Walters said. “What have they been through? It’s survived the Depression and two world wars. What kind of conversations were taking place at that table, for example, in the ’60s or something? To me, it’s nostalgia. The hands that touched it have cared for it. People have prayed at that table, people have cried at that table. So it has some value and that’s why we want to find a good home to try to keep it alive.”
Although Serendipity sees its regular customers once a week or once a month, most of them come from outside the area, from people searching for specific items or seeing an item on Facebook Marketplace. The Walters said they have customers from Cincinnati to Chicago.
The Walters said they run Serendipity out of love for people and for interpersonal reasons, not for the money.
“We realized that we wouldn’t have been able to open this business if our children were still in school and we were doing this for a living,” said Lori Walters.
The couple said they have made lifelong friendships through operating their store on Alexandria’s Main Street.
