It’s been 40 years since Mike Igoe, a Clarence resident and professor at SUNY Fredonia, bought a vintage barber chair to keep in his bedroom.
“It was the same type of chair that I got my haircut in as a kid and that was interesting to me. My roommate’s friends would come over and say ‘Wow, your roommate has quite the interesting taste in furniture. That’s where it all started,” said Igoe.
Since then, the former Channel 2 reporter has collected more than 100 vintage items to be placed in his General Store basement. And no, that’s not just something he calls it either. Igoe’s basement is truly a General Store. Made by his friendly neighbor, Igoe said the gentleman would admire his collection and wanted to build something special for him to show off his items.
“He said ‘All this stuff is going to waste. I’ll build you a General Store.’ He was a pilot and would come over on the weekends and odd ball hours when he got out of work, but it was a really nice thing he did.”
Igoe’s General Store collection includes light up ceramic Christmas villages, a cash register, a child’s booster seat, a cereal box collection, an antique oak wall telephone with a handset and crank, a meat scale, a wood barrel, a U.S. Post Office delivery window, and so much more. All item’s can be view on the Moyer Auction at bid.moyerauction.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/15543/.
While Igoe is sad to see his items go, he says it was fun while it lasted. He and his wife are now going to scale back, but he hopes to see the items go to someone who will treasure them like he did.
“As George Carlin says, ‘We have too much stuff in our life.’ I hope it gets in the hands of people who will like it as much as my wife and I did.”
