Gateway to the past: Polo antique store uncovers sentimental memories

POLO – The things passed down to Jodi Horner through the years have been more than just mementoes and collectibles; they’ve been a gateway to a way of life and a livelihood.

Horner is the gatekeeper at Kim’s Gateway Antiques in Polo, where her passion for collecting has filled the store with more than just merchandise from days gone by, it’s filled it with precious memories too.

Memories of auctions and antiques. Memories of bric-a-brac and what-nots. Memories of family and friends – some who are gone, but far from forgotten, like the friend who is still with Horner every day she opens the doors of the shop she started a few years ago.

The Kim in the store’s name is Horner’s way of honoring a relationship that was born in a Barn and grew quickly into a cherished – but sadly, brief – friendship.

About 10 years ago, Horner was bidding on a vintage porch gable piece at the Chana Sale Barn. So was Kim Meyer – and though Meyer ended up winning, there were no hard feelings, just an easy friendship.

“We bid on a piece against each other that she won, and then she asked if we can go to lunch,” Horner said. “We became instant friends. We were friends for not even two years before she passed.” Meyer, of Huntley, died of leukemia on July 21, 2015. Horner grieved but pressed on with her love of antiquing, as a way to remember and honor her bidding buddy and cohort in collecting.

“We had a great friendship of collecting,” Horner said. “Even though she passed, I would still go to garage sales and go thrifting and go, ‘Wow, that’s old and worth some money!’ Or, ‘I could sell that.’ This is in memory of her. She would have told me to quit pouting and get back on my feet and keep doing what her and I did together.”

What Horner, of German Valley, did was turn that eye for a deal and passion for picking into a way to make money with her business partner, Shannan Haenitsch of Polo, who owns the downtown shop with her.

While Horner gets her share of customers who think she’s the Kim in Kim’s Gateway Antiques, she said it doesn’t bother her; it just brings back happy memories, much like an antique does, reminding her of their friendship.

Even today, when she’s out on a picking adventure, she’ll dust off her memories of Meyer.

When Horner finds an old dustpan, she immediately thinks of her friend. There are some hanging on the walls at her store, with both long and short handles – as Horner and Meyer each had their preferences. They’re not there to make money, though, but rather to make Horner smile.

“I collected the short-handled ones, and she collected the long-handled ones. We kind of chuckled when we first met because she told me, ‘I collect dust pans,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, so do I.’ She’s like, ‘I collect the long-handled ones,’ and I go, ‘I collect the shorts.’ Now that she’s gone, when I find one I get even more excited because it adds to the collection.”

Like other everyday items, especially kitchen goods, dustpans were once used to advertise businesses, and when customers run across those old promotional items, it rekindles a long-forgotten memory. That’s what Horner and Haenitsch like to see when people shop at their store.

“My whole family was always around antiques,” Horner said. “I remember as a little girl going to auctions with my grandparents and parents, and always grew up around antiques. I had a love for them, and it’s just always been there. I can get sentimental with having a piece that belonged to this grandma, and another that belonged to that grandma.”

Horner and Haenitsch have known each other for almost 10 years, and when they had an opportunity to buy a trio of downtown storefronts for a nice price three years ago, her desire to open an antique store came into play. The buildings had only been used sparingly since the mid-1990s, and the pair rolled up their sleeves to fix them up, preserving what wood flooring was left and uncovering the tin ceilings.

The antique shop takes up a room and a half of the space, with the remainder used as a resale shop, Gateway Big Box Resale, which carries newer items, many of which are overstock from big box retail stores.

The Gateway part of the name was Haenitsch’s contribution; Polo calls itself “Gateway to the Pines,” and the longtime resident came to enjoy his time there as a high-schooler after his family moved there. Working with Horner has helped him learn more about, and appreciate, the “Antique” part of the store’s name. He enjoys chatting with customers about them, and said he’s proud of being able to help breathe new life into the downtown storefronts and helping them find a purpose again.

“I enjoy the sociableness,” Haenitsch said. “I enjoy putting back into the town. My entire drive has been to put something back into town. I moved here in eighth grade and had been in nine schools by then, and I finally decided that this is where I wanted to settle. Polo was where I wanted to be, and I enjoyed being somewhere for the first time in my life. When I was in high school, downtown was full and every building had a purpose.”

The inventory of antiques comes from Horner’s own finds, as well as those from a handful of vendors who sell their own items. Unlike stores where vendors are arranged by booths, merchandise is grouped together by kinds throughout the stores, with vendors’ numbers on the price tags.

It’s an arrangement that’s worked well for both vendors and customers, Haenitsch said.

“I like this a lot better,” he said. “The salt and pepper stuff is here, the bedding stuff is there, and everything is in categories. I was leaning toward having her do booths at one point because that’s all I had ever seen, but after being in one, after being through a third or fourth one I’m tired of looking.”

Horner likes to keep the inventory fresh so that there’s always something new – and old – to see. Stuff is marked to move, so if someone sees something they like, they shouldn’t wait to buy. And if they don’t see something they like, stop back again; there’s a good chance it’ll be there, with new items coming and going all the time. Customers can also fill out a “wish list” so that Horner can keep an eye out for things when she’s out picking. If it’s Phillips 66 memorabilia someone’s looking for, however, they may have to take a number behind Horner. Those pieces of petroliana are personal to Horner, having grown up around the gas station in Mt. Morris that her grandparents Vernon and Minnie Burke owned for many years.

A passion for the past, an appreciation for antiques and an understanding of the emotional connection people make with them help guide Horner on her hunts – and of course, there’s still the thrill of finding that certain something a customer’s been looking for, or tracking down a treasured memory of her own.

“One of my vendors once opened up a corn crib, and I went through that and didn’t want to leave,” Horner said. “There’s a thrill of finding something when you’re out there picking to find something for the store, or find something for your own collection.”

Kim’s Gateway Antiques, 108 W. Mason St. in downtown Polo, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

For information, find it on Facebook, email kimsgatewayantiques@gmail.com or call 815-441-2886.