DeeDee Henrichs Sonstelie is moving her store, FM Antiques and More, to the EasTen Mall this month. The shop, which includes booths operated by about 20 vendors along with her merchandise, has been in the Center Mall since 2017. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)
Moorhead Business News
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
The antiques, vintage miscellany, collectibles and toys that customers have browsed in the Center Mall are being packed and loaded these days as DeeDee Henrichs Sonstelie prepare to reopen her shop in the EasTen Mall.
FM Antiques and More settled into the downtown mall in 2017 when Sonstelie purchased the business. Since then, she and as many as 20 other sellers have populated the store with an intriguing mix of true antiques (at least a century old) and “more” – the vast category that includes vintage and repurposed housewares, décor, furnishings and whatever else collectors might have in mind.
“’Vintage’ – that’s 99 years old or less,” she says. She reports that clothing from yesterday’s closets and vinyl records are hot at the moment, along with a perennial favorite — toys from the 1980s and 1990s.
The move was to get underway this week. “We’re tentatively planning to be out of here by Thanksgiving and to open in the new store on Black Friday,” she says hopefully.
It’s a massive endeavor, with DeeDee and the whole crew who operate their own booths organizing mountains of merchandise to safely transported to 3218 Highway 10 East. Her new store of 6,000 square feet is roughly equal in size to the areas she now occupies in the downtown mall, the original FM Antiques and a second storefront called Comfort and Joy in the space formerly housing Christopher and Banks.
The new version of FM Antiques and More, which will combine both, will bring some changes. One is its outward-facing storefront, opening directly onto the parking lot. Another is its prime location between busy Runnings and Cashwise Foods in the spot once occupied by Sears Appliances. That access, though, is a trade-off. “We’re going to miss the residents of the high rise and others who walk over here,” she points out regretfully.
Redesigning the wide-open space into which she’s moving at EasTen has offered an opportunity to increase the volume and variety of the miscellany it sells. The layout will be able to accommodate twice as many booths operated by independent sellers as the downtown store DeeDee is vacating; she is currently reaching out to others interested in displaying and selling their wares there.
FM Antiques and More operates in collaboration between its owner and those who sell their “finds” from individual booths. Everyone’s merchandise, DeeDee explains, is tagged with a code identifying the seller. Volunteers help her handle sales from the central cash register, which records every transaction. At month’s end, she settles with the sellers based on that record.
“It’s part of what makes it fun to browse here,” she adds. “You never know what to expect. Each vendor has their own taste. They find their merchandise at garage sales, at auctions and whatnot.
“They’re very helpful, very supportive,” she notes. “It’s like one big family-owned business. Everybody looks out for everybody else.”
DeeDee, who grew up in Chaffee, North Dakota, and Moorhead, doesn’t claim to be an antique expert; instead, she herself is a big fan of these glimpses of yesteryear: “I’ve always liked nostalgia. When I spot something I remember from Grandma’s house, I feel a sense of comfort and joy.” (In fact, that’s where the name of her second shop in the Center Mall came from.)
“I just love hearing our customers exclaim, ‘I’ve been looking for this since I was a kid.’ We get a lot of happy people here.”
For the next month or so, FM Antiques and More remains open at the Center Mall. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
