Peddling Away: Antique shop closing after 20 years

PALMER — One of the oldest antique and gift shops in town will soon become a piece of history itself.

Anyone who’s passed through Trunk Road’s intersection with the Palmer-Wasilla Highway in the last couple months has seen the neon pink, “going-out-of-business” signs advertising the imminent closure of Country Peddlers. Some have even complained that the signs are deliberately misleading with the unchanging number of days left.

Others are saying, “oh good, I still have time.”

It’s the latter group of people that Country Peddlers stays open for, said owner Penny Muth.

“If people are still buying, why close?” she said.

On a windy Saturday morning in October, Penny Muth took a seat in an old wooden chair as her husband, Joe Muth, stood poised at the checkout counter (also an antique for sale) at the front of the store, awaiting customers. The shop — which doubles as their home — glittered with Christmas decorations and the spicy-sweet smell of the holidays.

A small black cat named Milo, the store mascot and family pet, sashayed by her people’s feet, silently seeking attention while owners reflected on their many years as peddlers, pickers, collectors and farmers.

From farm to (antique) table

Joe Muth, whose brother owns Muth Farm on Palmer Fishhook Road, grew up on a dairy farm that his family owned since before statehood. Once he graduated high school, he and his three brothers volunteered for Vietnam, rather than be drafted or go to college. The Navy was good to them, in that they were all deployed at the same time, and were able to communicate and even see each other during their tours. They all made it home.

Penny grew up on a ranch in Montana, and came to Alaska in 1976 to visit a friend. Then she met Joe, and “never really ended up going home,” she said.

Not to Montana, that is — Alaska soon became her home. She transitioned to the Far North brand of farming effortlessly, and worked the land and livestock with her husband.

As the Mat-Su Valley took its various twists and turns away from agriculture and more toward industrialization, the couple stopped farming and took various jobs in retail, custodial and customer service positions. It didn’t make them much money, but it was enough to live on.

In 1992, Penny’s sister-in-law started Country Antiques and Gifts with her mother in downtown Palmer, across from what is now Bishop’s Attic. A collector all her life, Penny was delighted to be a part of the venture.

When the mother died a few years later, the gift shop was split into a co-op for various businesses. When the sister-in-law went to take care of her mother’s estate, Country Gifts was left to Penny.

Joe said he wasn’t much of a collector before he married Penny, but he saw her passion for antiques, and agreed to help with the business, Penny said.

The couple lived in a trailer park with their children at that time, and wanted a piece of land all their own. The opportunity to claim such property soon afforded itself, and the Muths took it, spending two years in a trailer and lean-to on the property before they were able to begin building and open up shop again.

Joe cashed in half his retirement savings and enrolled himself, Penny and their two oldest sons in a construction class at Mat-Su College to make it happen. By 2000, the family had upgraded from 400 square feet of shelter to roughly 1,500 square feet of home.

The big red house sits at the top of a steep driveway, sequestered in a winding neighborhood off Old Trunk Road. The Muths said they never really noticed an impact on the business from construction of the new road, but have been able to keep their doors open for the random as well as the regular customers that trickle in every week.

The stuff

Though patrons of Country Peddlers may notice a sign within the store that reads, “excellent junque,” Penny said the contents of the shop are more than that. Every item —from antique cabinets and vintage clothing to one-of-a-kind Christmas ornaments and paintings — has a story.

And some are more true than others.

“That’s the fun thing about antique stuff,” Joe said. “You can make up your own story. … If it sounds plausible, I’ll take your word for it.”

Joe said he and Penny do make their best effort to determine the origin and true value of a given item, but most of what they’ve picked from garages sales and auctions around the country are things that they simply find interesting.

“Anything that talks to you, and that we think somebody might like,” Penny said.

But that somebody needs to like that something enough for the price, she stipulated. A few people over the years have come in looking to haggle over an item, she said, and that’s not how Country Peddlers is designed.

“I think people think that we go it (an item) for nothing,” Penny said. “Some people come in and they wanna pick, but it’s already been picked.”

And some items are more unique than others. Penny said the favorite item she’s sold at the store was an antique pink Kenmore washing machine.

Picking away

The Muths compared Country Peddlers to any retail outfit or gift shop potential customers would purchase from. At the same time, they recognized that many people come into their store just to peruse, for a more museum-like experience.

Joe joked that they should start charging entry fees. Penny said listening to the nostalgic comments of customers as they find something that reminds them of home is priceless.

But as she and Joe grow older, the closure of the shop has become necessary, she said. Her arthritis is getting worse, and their duty down south — to take over her deceased mother’s estate — are a couple reasons why they're looking to sell as much as they can before they move.

Plus, it’s a generational thing — in-store gift shopping is becoming a thing of the past, and younger shoppers aren’t necessarily looking for antiques, Penny said.

“They’re all in front of their (electronic) devices,” she said.

For the vintage savvy youth and adults who are willing to sift through the many rooms of trinkets and old-but-practical furniture and other items, Country Peddlers will be open until Dec. 5. The shop will be open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until then.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.