If you haven’t walked down to Main Street in a while (or you haven’t made it past Rite Aid), now’s the time to do so and go check out Rag and Bone. Launched in October, Rag and Bone is a nifty new thrift store that prides itself on being a “secondhand emporium.”
As a lover of all things thrifted (or “pre-characterized,” as I fondly think of them), I had the pleasure of sitting down with the store’s owner, Dale Messinger, to get an inside look at his world of antiques, collectibles, and giant chess boards.
According to Messinger, the idea for such a store had been long in the making.
“I’d been looking for a long time for an idea for a business I could start, so I could stop doing my nine-to-five job,” he said. “This type of thing is [what] I’d always [wanted] to do. I like to shop in stores like this, and I like to find things that people are discarding and recycling. I like to think that I am finding new homes for stuff.”
In the world of consignment, Messinger is something of a modern-day Renaissance man. He drew the inspiration for the store’s name from the prevalence of “rag and bone” groups in 18th and 19th century England.
“They [were] old guys who went around in carts who collected old rags that people were discarding,” Messinger said. “They’d sell them back to the merchants who would turn them into usable goods. I also like the idea of making money from stuff saved from trash heaps.”
For people who have never been to a thrift store, entering Rag and Bone can be quite the jarring experience. Unlike thrift chains like Goodwill, Rag and Bone isn’t restricted to secondhand clothes: it’s a vast bazaar of novelty items, used and otherwise.
“I have something for everybody,” Messinger said. “I have from newer secondhand, to vintage, to antiques. I am starting to get more vintage clothing. I also have housewares, home décor, electronics, jewelry (mostly estate and vintage), vinyl, posters, movies, and books.”
In other words, Messinger’s shop attempts to embody pop culture history.
“I have a lot of elephants, old bicycles, and beer stuff,” he said. “I have a movie prop from a Harry Potter movie that, even if you can’t afford to buy, you can come in and look at. Oh, guitars too—a Les Paul actually signed by Les Paul.”
Rag and Bone’s stock is constantly in flux: what one sees one day might not be there the next.
“I never know what I’m gonna get,” Messinger said. “You don’t just come down once and think you’ve seen the shop. I change it up all the time. I’ve had a lot of interesting things come through. The six- foot-tall bird house was really cool, while it was here. The seven-foot-tall nutcracker is gone. The 1920s giant cash register, the old Gothic leather chair. Groovy stuff.”
Groovy stuff, indeed. This constant change is largely due to Messinger’s clear sense of direction for the store.
“When I opened, I was thinking of doing it as a consignment shop,” he said. “I’ve been buying mostly everything myself, mostly at auctions, estates, and wherever people are trying to get rid of stuff.”
Rag and Bone is open to all of your thrifting needs five days a week, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Messinger is planning to extend it soon to six days a week. Haggling or flashing your WesCard might get you a few discounts, so factor that into your trip.
You’ve got nothing to lose by checking out the store, except for maybe a game of chess.
“I’ve got this giant chess board,” Messinger said. “I had the pieces, [and] a friend of mine and I built the board. Feel free to come down and play.”
Find these great deals on things you never knew you even wanted at 484 Main St. Whether you come to the store with something specific in mind or just stop in to browse, it’s unlikely that you’ll leave empty-handed or without a smile on your face.