The Milkbarn has now been open for about a month, and the business is already ready for the holidays.
The new antique and vintage store is located at 517 N High Street in downtown California, where the old Hickman liquor store used to be at Plat 1 Block 1 Boonsborough.
"We have a lot of people come in with memories of coming in here and getting a soda or whatever," owner Laura Distler said. "The lady that lived upstairs came in and wanted a tour of her old apartment, there's an apartment upstairs, so we did that and I heard so many stories about how she grew up here; it was very interesting. A lot of people reminiscing come through the doors."
Distler decided to give the store its name, The Milkbarn, due to several family memories and her love of cows.
"I live in my grandparents' house, and they have a milk cow farm, so there's a milkbarn out there," Distler said. "So when we moved out there, I used to tell my husband we're going to redo the milkbarn and I'm going to have a store out here."
And when Distler hosted a Junk Jam at The Bestgen Barn, she and her dad, Paul Bloch, started antiquing and they had their own booth also named The Milkbarn. There's that, and Bloch also has a shop the family uses for family gatherings that he calls The Milkbarn, as well.
The store will be participating in the scaled-down version of Christmas California Style taking place Saturday, along with several other businesses around California. The shop is now full of Christmas decor and antiques that will add the perfect touch to the holiday season.
"It's been really good, we've had a lot of traffic," Distler said of business so far. "It's better than I ever imagined."
For the month of November, the Milkbarn was open from 3-7 p.m. Fridays and from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays. For December, the business plans to extend its hours to open Thursday evenings as well, with some holiday specials in the cards. The Milkbarn's hours are set to change monthly, so make sure to visit the business's Facebook page or call the store ahead of time at 573-230-4462.