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Creekside Antiques owner Sue Beyenhof wants customers to find the contentment and joy she experiences each time she purchases a treasured household relic.
“Antiques have been my refuge and a place to get away from the problems of the world,” she said.
While family members affectionately call her a “hoarder,” Beyenhof stops short of characterizing her hunt for treasures as an illness.
Letting go of what is clearly garbage is easy for Beyenhof, but if an item can be scrubbed and repaired by her husband, Bob, to useable condition, it finds a place at the Beyenhof acreage west of Luverne.
“I do have a hard time throwing things out,” she admitted.
On April 11, to help Beyenhof rid her acreage of collected antiques, she will open her own store, Creekside Antiques, in a former farmhouse close to Beaver Creek.
She’s prepared to sell the items she collected, purchased, repaired and stored since she began collecting in 2000.
“I always thought it would be great to own an antiques store and I knew I had enough antiques from the past few years,” she said. “I thought it would be a fun thing to do.”
For almost a decade, Beyenhof rented booths at antique malls, selling selected items that elicited her feelings of comfort. She focused on items from the 1940s and 1950s.
Thoughts of selling her items at her own store stirred during the daily commute through Beaver Creek to work in Sioux Falls.
Situated kitty-corner across from the New Vision grain elevator, the former Von Der Lieth home on County Road 4 continually caught her eye and imagination as she drove by each day.
“From the beginning, this house always fascinated me,” she said. “It pulled at my heartstrings.”
Late last year her daughter, Stacy Schaap, purchased the property as an investment and offered the house, built in 1926, to Beyenhof to open her business. Arrangements from Schaap’s Sioux Falls business, The Flower Mill, will be available for purchase.
Since the sale in December, family members assisted with the cleaning, painting and readying of each room for Beyenhof’s merchandise.
“It has been a real family effort,” she said.
Family members also cultivated Beyenhof’s appreciation and tendency to collect antiques.
She described her late grandfather, John Miller, as the “original dumpster diver,” often repurposing various items for the home.
Her uncle, John Aeilts, collected junk and had an extensive collection.
But her late grandmother, Marian Miller, who lived a few blocks from her childhood home in Ellsworth, is who Beyenhof said inspired the homey feelings she wants to duplicate in her store.
The two completed tasks together in the kitchen, including soap making.
She dubbed her store’s kitchen, “Grandma’s Kitchen.”
Aprons hang on the wall and shelves are filled with Pyrex bowls, glassware and any item depicting roosters. She has bookshelves filled with old cookbooks as well as an extensive selection of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks available for purchase.
In the living room, Beyenhof grouped items from the early 1900s including various crystal and glassware.
The room is also where repurposed cups and saucers as candleholders are also located. The candles are made by Beyenhof and her grandchildren in the same spirit she made soap with her own grandmother.
One of two bedrooms is the women’s boutique, featuring Beyenhof’s passion for vintage clothing and accessories including shoes, jewelry, hats and handbags.
The other bedroom groups books and items for men together in various sales displays.
A story can be told about how each item was found and/or selected. Each item does share a common theme.
“The most fun part is the hunt. The excitement of finding a new piece,” Beyenhof said. “That’s what keeps you interested in finding the next thing.”
Throughout the tri-state area, Beyenhof stops at various antique and secondhand stores and regularly attends auction and estate sales searching for vintage items.
Between sales she reads books or uses the internet to research items, keep up with buying trends and item prices.
“I am a nerd when it comes to studying,” she said. “It’s hard to decide what to sell.”
One item, Beyenhof said, whose sale “would be a sad day” is the metal Round Oak cookstove that greets visitors on the sun-filled enclosed porch.
When that occurs, the hunt will be on for a replacement.
The recently retired mental health therapist is looking forward to the challenge of being a storeowner.
While the exact business hours have not been determined, Beyenhof anticipates opening the store a couple of days a week and for special occasions.
The store will be closed January through March.
Creekside Antiques takes its name from the Beaver Creek that runs behind the property.
The grand opening is Thursday, April 11, through Saturday, April 13.
Store hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on April 11 and 12. April 13 hours are from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
On-going hours will be announced at a later date.
Creekside Antiques is located at 539 County Road 4.