Two Old Hammers shop will close at Oakesdale

Oakesdale’s popular antique and consignment shop, Two Old Hammers, will close after Oct. 3. Suzanne Hammer said she is putting the wraps on the store because she and her husband, Terry, are up to their necks in other projects.

“It was more successful than we ever imagined,” Hammer said, adding they don’t yet know their future plans for the building once it closes.

The antique shop, which has slowly become a hub for aspiring local vendors and a popular weekend hangout, is now looking at its last days.

People were weaving in and out of the rows of vintage wooden furniture littered with delicately-painted antique pottery last Friday morning.

Hammer, who made a full recovery from breast cancer several years ago, said she has had to dispel the rumor that the store was closing because the cancer had returned.

Hammer kept repeating the same message to customer after customer- she wasn’t sick; she and her family are simply too busy now.

“I’m doing fine,” she reassured another friend as they came in the door.

All items are 20 percent off. Hammer said they’ll be open the next two weekends. Sixteen local vendors sell there and will remove their wares after Oct. 3, the date of a townwide yard sale in Oakesdale.

A quick meander through the store reveals a collection of cowboy boots, a deer head mount, a saddle, quilts, and other items.

“It’s very comfortable shopping in her store,” said friend Janet Miller of Spangle. Miller selected a fetching sunflower painting and a quilt.

Suzanne said she and her husband help her 25-year-old son, Cameron Blank, farm nearby. Also, Suzanne’s daughter, Alison Beck, and her four children just moved to Spokane. Suzanne and Terry would like to spend more time with the grandchildren.

The Two Old Hammers building, built in the 1930s, used to be the Oakesdale Grange Supply. Later, it became a hardware store. By the time the Hammers purchased it, the building had sat vacant for three years and had been damaged by a fire.

“It’s fixable,” she said, gesturing to the rusted walls and worn wooden floor.

Hammer said she and Terry began the store for fun and told each other if it ever became work, it would be time to stop.

“I’m a retired school teacher and he is a retired cop,” she said. “This was just for fun.”