Karlyn Reedy finds a Shirley Temple doll in her family's warehouse on McCallie Avenue.
So, where are those "American Pickers" guys when you need them?
Karlyn Reedy, a Signal Mountain native and Knoxville-area real estate pro, has a warehouse full of picker-quality stuff - new-in-the-box Santa dolls, Oriental rugs, vintage fishing gear, ceramic figurines, even an old shoe press from the Buster Brown Co.
Mark KennedyReedy is dealing with a common baby boomer challenge: She's trying to liquidate the belongings of her parents, who have downsized their living arrangements and are attempting to shed many of their possessions.
Reedy's mission, however, is much bigger than an ordinary yard sale or even a full-scale estate auction. Her parents' personal goods and the remnants of their gift wholesaling business, Etc. Etc. Etc., filled a 10,000-square-foot warehouse on McCallie Avenue across from Warner Park.
"Every cabinet, every wall, every single inch of this place was full," says Reedy, while touring the half-empty warehouse with a reporter last week.
The exodus of merchandise started with truckloads of T-shirts, dolls and other gewgaws being shipped off to charities here and in Knoxville, where Reedy's parents, Bob and Virginia Jo Riggsby, now live. The family made generous contributions to the Salvation Army here and a children's hospital in Knoxville.
Now Reedy is planning to have an open-to-the-public sale in late October or early November to liquidate the rest of the items. The building on McCallie Avenue has been sold and needs to be emptied, she said.
At the peak of operations, the gift company employed about 25 shipping and receiving workers at the McCallie Avenue warehouse, Reedy explained.
They handled merchandise assembled by local piece-workers and scores of gift-makers here and abroad. The business ceased operating in 2003, but literally tons of inventory remained.
Reedy said her mom and her dad, a Du Pont chemical company retiree, started the gift business 30 years ago and it soon took on a life of its own. In the beginning, Virginia Jo Reedy marketed her handmade goods at Junior League shows around the South. She later graduated to wholesale showcases such as the Merchandise Mart in Atlanta. One of her early success stories was a hand-made "Jingle Bells" necklace that sold in the tens of thousands of copies, her daughter says. There was also a custom hair bow that sold thousands of units in Michael's craft stores.
An inventory sheet found in the warehouse appears to show about 1,000 items, including a pumpkin candle ($2.50), a metal reindeer basket ($22.50), a 14-inch elf on a ladder ($7.50) and a 10-yard length of red-and-green ribbon ($5).
Also remaining at the warehouse are whole rooms full of personal goods. Reedy estimates that her mother has 14 sets of china, for example, and multiple sets of crystal stemware.
Because the job of moving all this stuff has been so arduous - and has taken almost three years - Reedy says she has shed any sentimental feelings she might once have had about the contents of the warehouse. She does, however, pause to show a visitor a ceramic lamb that her mother said was a gift from the hospital on the occasion of Karlyn's birth.
She also lingers over a portable record player that was hers as a girl.
"We used to ride the bus downtown every Saturday to buy a 45 (rpm) record at Loveman's [Department Store]," she recalled.
Reedy allows she will probably keep some of the personal items, but not many.
"It's time to move on," she says, clapping the dust from her hands.
As a generation of baby boomers is learning, such is the circle of life.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645.
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