After many hours of hard work and anticipation, Foxfire Gifts and Collectibles located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Tyrone is scheduled to open Monday, June 28.
Proprietor Patricia Etters told The Daily Herald that she and her husband Dennis have been creating the current Foxfire store in booths and storefronts for almost four years.
This began while she was living in Sparta, NC. Patricia was a doll maker, and she had a studio in an old house that was converted to a store with a collection of artisans.
People who came to the shop could watch her making the antique reproduction dolls. The name of her portion of the store was Foxfire Babies.
The Foxfire stores are currently located in Lewisburg, Bellefonte, Huntingdon, and now, Tyrone.
“We hope to stay in Tyrone,” she added. “We live between Tyrone and Port Matilda, so this shop is close to home.”
She shared with The Daily Herald the reason behind the name Foxfire. She said Foxfire is an old Appalachian Mountain name for a microorganism, which grows in woodland bark. It glows with a greenish color in the dark. The name of Patricia’s store was inspired by the Foxfire books edited by Eliot Wigginton.
“We take pride in providing a variety of wonderful gifts and collectibles, old and new,” she said. “We truly ‘search the world over for the finest gifts and home decor for you.’”
Patricia added that the latter part also acts as the store’s motto.
“Our prices our good also. Our Tyrone store is the largest and most exciting one, for we have added a 19 booth vendor mall to this store,” she said.
Some of the vendors include artisans, and others are collectors of antiques and vintage items, handcrafted items or retail. The store will also have pottery, furniture, photography, restoration creations, resale baby clothes, fine jewelry, vintage glass and porcelain and Madam Alexander and Elsie Massey dolls as well.
In the Foxfire section of the store, customers will find something for just about everybody such as vintage glassware and porcelain, lots of dolls, Asian decor, dragons and sorcerers, wooden and porcelain birds, angels and cherubs, model cars, pocketknives and watches, farm animals, exotic animal figurines, dolphins, lighthouses, floral arrangements, floral stems and garlands, and many more items.
Patricia added that a highlight of the store is that there is a fine selection of vintage fedoras for the gentlemen and vintage hats for the ladies.
“I also perform certain types of doll repair, and I take special orders for flower arrangements or sewing table linens,” she said.
