My husband and I can not remember how we learned of this store, but there is a place in the town where we used to live called Steely’s Corner.
It is almost impossible to describe. It was what almost everyone would call a junk store, and yet, if you know junk stores, you know they contain treasures amidst the “trash.”
The street level entrance was like going into a basement with a very low ceiling. To look through the entire store you had to duck beneath hanging insulation, climb an open staircase (and duck there, too), and wander through very narrow aisles through countless rooms filled to the brim with… all kinds of “stuff.”
Our first encounters were not IN the store but instead with the owner. “Miss Brenda” went to our church, and when we learned that she bought things you no longer wanted, we had her come by our house in her truck and haul away yard sale leftovers, old furniture, and eventually items from my parents’ house that remained with us when we had cleaned out their belongings after they passed away. (She also went once to Nashville to “shop” my mother’s house – filled with LOTS of “stuff” – when Mama was trying to get her house ready to sell. But that’s another l-o-o-n-g story in itself!)
Brenda spent a LOT of time at the store, more as time went on, when there just wasn’t room to bring in more “stuff.” Once we started going to the store, her greetings were always heartfelt, like an old friend (which truly, she was.)
I always made it part of my summer routine to visit Steely’s Corner, just to see “what’s new.” My children would go with me from time to time, and we would laugh at some of the things she had bought from us that were still in the store because they had never sold. Sometimes I would take friends, and although I tried to warn them on the way about what to expect, they never “got it” until they “got there.”
Yes, I would always find something I wanted to bring home with me. Brenda would always give me a great price on the item, or sometimes just give it to me, because “You were always so good to me.” She did buy a LOT of stuff from us through the years, and we didn’t ask high prices. We were just thrilled to get things hauled away!
This is chapter 1 of the Steely’s Corner tale. More to come…
fireflytrails 
This sounds like a wonderful place to linger and how nice that you’ve become friends with the owner as well. Your description of entering the store really brought it to life!
Great story of reusing, and finding joy in simple, discarded treasures. What a deal for her to haul things away for you, in addition to paying you for them. That’s what we in environmental science call a symbiotic relationship. Thanks for sharing this story!
This setting is straight out of a novel. Honestly, I can almost smell the place. Thanks for this little nugget.
It sounds like Brenda is a treasure herself. How funny that you saw your things there that hadn’t sold! I love stores like these!
After reading this, I immediately thought of those nesting dolls. Stories within stories within stories. What a neat part of your own story as well! Can’t wait to hear more about Steely’s Corner. 🙂
My sister has a store like this 🙂 with lots of useless items. So, I can relate to your story. Her store sounds like fun!
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[…] the end of my tale about Steely’s Corner. You can also read part one and part two to get the background information and history of this trash-to-treasure […]