Owners move unique gallery to unique place

GALLERY CLASSIC

Address: 3400 S.W. Topeka Blvd.

Owners: Bob and Kristen White

Nature of the business: Sells European antiques, furniture and home accessories

Quote: "You have to have a will to succeed, and I have that will very strongly," Kristen White said. "If you give up at the first sign of adversity, you'll never make it."

By CHRISTIE APPELHANZ

The Capital-Journal

Bob and Kristen White spend weeks hunting overseas for European antiques and furniture to fill their shop, but their best find this year was in Topeka.

After considering expanding Gallery Classic for three years, the couple, both 45, finally secured a location as unique as the merchandise sold in it. The business recently moved to a historic stone building at 3400 S.W. Topeka Blvd., gaining 7,000 square feet.

"This is it," Bob White said. "We're not getting any bigger."

The company hired an additional four employees to work in the new location. Gallery Classic now has 12 employees.

Following a love of antiques that began in childhood with trips to garage sales, Kristen White opened Gallery Classic in 1987 in the Gage Shopping Center. The business outgrew that location in 1990 and moved to the Fairlawn Plaza Mall.

Sales of Gallery Classic's large collection of antiques, furniture and new home accessories have grown at about 30 percent a year, thanks to a steady stream of business from outside Topeka. Kristen White said business has picked up since the move.

"There is some mystique about this building," she said. "There is so much character, it's drawing people inside."

The Whites purchased the building with the help of a Small Business Administration loan.

Because of its distinctive turret and graceful arches, it is hard to tell the 125-year-old building originally was a dairy barn. It was later the club house for White Lakes Golf Course, a night club, a furniture store and commercial offices. Most recently, the building was home to Robert and Jane Hogue and their building business, Robert Hogue Construction Inc., until Robert Hogue's death in February 1999.

The 10,000-square-foot building allows the Whites to display merchandise as it would be in a home, separating the kitchen accessories from the living room pieces. Kristen White said the new arrangement gives customers ideas for decorating their own homes.

"This is just wonderful, it's grand," said Jane Young, who recently was shopping at Gallery Classic. "It's handy --- maybe a little too handy."

The second floor of the building is still under construction. When it is finished, it will house a colorful line of bedding, Vanguard Upholstery and area rugs. Gallery Classic plans to offer decorating services when the renovations are complete.

The couple also plans to build a warehouse behind the building to replace their current storage facility.

Gallery Classic is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The telephone number is 266- 5888.

"It's handy --- maybe a little too handy."

--- JANE YOUNG,

shopping at Gallery Classic

Copyright 1999
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