Antique Store is a Portal to the Past

A dish that reminds you of dinner at your grandmother's house.  A first-edition book you read as a child. A vintage wrought-iron table with matching chairs.

Where can you find these types of treasures? On Main Street in the heart of Hampton Bays at the Good Ground Antique Center, one of the oldest businesses in the hamlet and certainly one of the most unique.

"I don't like reproductions," said Karen Scholz, the second-generation owner of the antique store. "We have authentic antiques plus vintage and retro items that we find locally."

Indeed, the store is filled with unique dishware, jewelry, books, decorative items, furniture, and bric-a-brac. Scholz's personal favorite piece in her varied and vast inventory is an antique 1910 Hall Tree, a mission oak foyer stand and mirror designed to hold umbrellas, coats, and hats. 

The historical nature of the store is as evident on the exterior as it is inside. Etched into the face of the grey storefront, above the front door and below the roofline, are the words — Good Ground, the hamlet's name at the time the building was constructed in 1912.

The Scholz family roots on the property run deep. Scholz's grandfather, Alwin Scholz, ran a successful butcher shop at the site for several decades in the early 1900s. Her father then expanded into a small grocery market until the 1950s when the new supermarkets in Hampton Bays offered a bit too much competition. In 1996, her mother opened an antique store, which Scholz took over in 2001.

Scholz expanded her mother's antique shop by turning it into a multi-dealer shop. There are now ten dealers associated with the antique center and, as a result, inventory is quite large and turnover quick. And the gems do not stop in the Main Street store—a garage nearby is packed with seasonal items, garden furniture, and much more. If customers look closely, they will also see a cherished playhouse, built in the 1930s for Karen's mother and siblings.

So, how does she find such great treasures? Well, they seem to find her.

"We get our pieces from estate sales, moving sales, people will contact us. Or sometimes we have people we know who bring us their finds," said, Scholz who proudly added that all of the store's contents are found on the East End. 

Scholz said different items appeal to different people but that specific inventory might be more popular for a period of time. For instance, at the present time, costume jewelry is extremely sought-after.

"I don't have to go more than about 30 miles from Hampton Bays," Scholz said about finding antique and vintage gems." We have a lot of treasures around here."