Serious loss to hit ‘junk community’
Spokane is losing that landmark store that begins with a “B.”
Naw, not the Bon. That’s just a name change.
The parent company of the Bon-Macy announced last week that it was dropping the Bon part of its moniker.
Big deal.
What I’m talking about is far more serious. After 18 years, Benny’s Antiques & Collectables is calling it quits.
What am I going to do with my spare dollars and spare time?
The boxy building at 2130 E.Sprague is a cherished magnet for the area’s flea market crowd, of which I am a charter and compulsive member.
I walked through my house Monday morning making a checklist of everything that came from Benny’s:
Two vintage Coke clocks, framed Spokesman-Review print, metal antique underwear sign, Arden Milk clock, walking sticks, old milk bottles in a metal delivery rack, cool black and white 1950s glasses, metal Thompson’s malted milk can…
Glass Tom’s peanut jar, Nu-Grape electric clock, Four Roses whiskey clock, metal signs advertising The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Daily Chronicle, old bus driver’s hat, Pinkerton detective badge, neon cocktail sign, Expo ‘74 Jim Beam decanter, flamingo mirror, Morris chair…
Seeburg jukebox…
I definitely have a problem.
This might explain why my lovely wife, Sherry, didn’t exactly start weeping when I delivered the news about Benny’s.
“You don’t know how lucky you are to have her,” said Benny Sedore, when I dropped into his store to pay my final respects.
Don’t I know it.
Sedore is the founder and namesake of Benny’s. He often tells the story of the day he delivered that jukebox to my home.
“Where are we gonna put it?” he asked after we hoisted the heavy beast onto my porch.
I had the perfect location in mind: In the entryway facing my glass front door.
Only one problem. The spot was currently occupied by my wife’s cedar hope chest.
“Don’t tell her I had anything to do with this,” said Benny as he grabbed an end and helped move the chest containing her wedding dress and other keepsakes into the dining room.
You won’t find this in any marriage manual. But swapping your wife’s hope chest for a jukebox gives a husband great insight into the character of the person he married.
Sherry came home. She took one look. Bless her soul, she started laughing.
Ten years later the jukebox is still glowing in our entryway.
Quitting isn’t Sedore’s idea.
Spokane Mental Health owns the 1909 building, which is said to be the site of the original Rosauers grocery. Benny’s takes up half of the place. The other side was used as an outpatient facility.
David Panken, CEO for Spokane Mental Health, explains that structural problems in the building were too costly to fix. A decision to abandon ship was made. The building will probably be torn down.
Sedore plans to be gone in a few weeks. He’s been getting rid of his inventory at fire sale prices and isn’t sure what his future holds.
I’ve got my fingers crossed he’ll open up somewhere else. Even if he does, he’ll never be able to duplicate the original.
The pressure from thousands of footsteps has worn a white groove into the red shag carpet covering the floor. The walls are covered with a cheesy light-brown wood-paneling that looks pretty naked now.
Before all this quitting business came up, stuff covered practically every square inch of the place.
Plates. Advertising. Glassware. Postcards. Cameras. Furniture. Posters. Artwork…
Walking into Benny’s was better than a field trip to a museum. You can’t cart home the treasures you find at a museum.
The Spokane area has scores of antique shops. What makes this one so special is the guy behind the counter.
Sedore doesn’t like to give his age. Let’s just say that he looks like he’s in his 60s. He’s not.
“He’s always got a story and he’s always willing to talk to you,” said Bob Bidon, a longtime Benny’s customer who was in the store Monday. “It’s a real loss to the junk community.”
I used to take my kids into Benny’s when they were pups. Sedore would give them change and let them play his antique slot machines.
He was a meat inspector until he got orders to take a job transfer. Sedore didn’t want to move. He quit his job and began earning money selling items he bought at yard sales. He decided to take a gamble and become a dealer. After a time in an antique mall, he and Burt Pendleton moved to the corner of Lee and Sprague and opened Benny’s.
Pendleton, who died 10 years ago, was a wonderful guy who specialized in old postcards and Spokane lore.
Aw, Benny, say it ain’t so.
I suppose I’ll adjust. And maybe it’s for the best. While interviewing him for this story, I bought a Spiro Agnew wristwatch, an old Western movie poster and an aerial photograph of Expo ‘74.
Don’t tell my wife.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate,” said Sedore. “How many people in their lifetime find something they really like to do? I’ve made a living selling stuff nobody needs.”