New Antique Gallery Opens
By Lucy Cunningham-Schultz
| Intern
Looking for a place to buy
antiques, study fine art, or have a cup of coffee and a nice conversation?
Then the new J&J Antique
Gallery may be just for you!
"J&J" stands for Jack and
Joanne Allen, new owners of the gallery. Odyssians may remember that Jack
ran Whit's End while his boyhood friend and local businessman John Avery
Whittaker was in the Middle East.
"When Whit returned, I felt a
bit out of place at Whit's End," Jack says. "After all, it's his shop. But
I've fallen in love with Odyssey and wanted to stay here. I felt I needed a
shop of my own."
So he returned to two of his
longtime loves: fine arts and antiques. "I noticed that the one thing
Odyssey didn't have was an art museum. So when I found out that The Antique
Emporium was for sale, I thought it was a prime opportunity to combine the
two--art and antiques!" Allen said.
Jack bought the Emporium and
is currently in the process of setting it up for a Grand Opening later this
year. "I want it to be a lot like Whit's End in terms of atmosphere," he
says. "People shouldn't feel that art or antiques are too precious or lofty
for them to discuss over a cup of coffee. Art and history are for everyone."
John Avery Whittaker provided
quite a housewarming for his friend's new shop: an entire truckload of
artwork and other artifacts from the vaults of the Universal Press
Foundation! "It'll take me weeks to go through it all!" exclaimed Jack. "But
it's a wonderful start to what I hope will be a wonderful gallery, and
Joanne and I are ready to get to work!"
This
article originally appeared in "The Odyssey Times," a
special fictional newspaper produced by Focus on the Family to promote
Adventures in Odyssey.
Back to
The Odyssey Times
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