Lawrenceville Antique Shop More Like History Museum

Large collection of old beer bottles

Al Stidle opened Scavenger's Antique Shop in Lawrenceville in 2003 when his collectibles threatened to overrun his Mt. Oliver house. His wife happily approved.  Though most antique shops resemble boutiques with their high prices and occasionally highbrow staff, Scavenger's is more rustic, more unpredictable -- kind of like a scene from the popular television show "American Pickers" on the History Channel.  Stidle's father, who raised his family in a brick Troy Hill home the family still owns, got him started as a picker.

Antique pickers -- like "American Pickers" stars Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz -- travel dusty back roads in search of valuable items stashed in barns or forgotten in dark attics. They pick the most collectible pieces, negotiate a price, and then sell them to antique store owners at a profit.  Stidle takes a different tack: He finds pieces he likes -- at flea markets, yard sales, following tips from friends -- then adds them to his personal collection.  Less than 15 percent of his picked items are in the store, he said. The rest sits in storage units and garages.  He focuses on Pittsburgh-region memorabilia.

A personal favorite of Stidle's, an old Duquesne Pilsener sign, hangs on the wall behind the counter at Scavenger's, but it is not for sale at any price. However the shop is full of other things that are.  Stacks of lumber and stairway banisters ripped out of homes built in the 1800s occupy dusty corners; old, obscure sports memorabilia cover walls; creaky furniture is piled to the rafters. Store hours are fluid, and most prices are unlisted and negotiable. However some items, particularly Pittsburgh beer memorabilia, might never leave the store.

Al has many other "favorites" that he will sell.  Like a montage of Homestead relics with an asking price of $300. The 4-foot-long, 2-foot-wide picture meshes old matchbooks and union stickers with a panoramic photo of steel mills.  There is also a beer bottle Al views as a piece of history.  It was brewed at St. Vincent Brewery, which closed in 1898, and bottled in the South Side at the old Lascheid Bottling, owned by the family of former Pens and Pirates organist Vincent Lascheid, who died in 2009. The bottle is still full.

Stidle was lured into a life as a picker by his father who repaired washers.  His dad always found himself in people's basements and always ended up coming home with something.  One day, he brought home a small slot machine, buy instead of cherries and lemons, its images were of cigarette brands, including Camel and Lucky Strike. If the same brand matched up three in a row, a token dropped out, good for a free pack of smokes at the bar.  "It fascinated me," Stidle said. "When I moved out, I took it with me."

And the rest is history.  Pittsburgh history that is.  Which can be found in abundance at Scavenger's Antique Shop,  3533 Butler St, in Lawrenceville.


Lawrenceville
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Marty's Market Coming To The Strip

Right By Nature in the Strip

A new market is coming to the strip to replace Right By Nature which closed last year.  Marty's Market's new proprietor, Regina Koetters, is not as anxious about her new venture as one might suspect.  Her last assignment was a tour in Iraq, so this by contrast should be a piece of cake.  Marty's will open in late spring, at Smallman and 23rd streets, in the same building that Right By Nature vacated.

Ms. Koetters sees the new market becoming a "destination" in a neighborhood whose chief draw is its unique collection of specialty food stores and produce wholesalers.  She hopes to invite celebrity and amateur chefs to teach culinary classes or to prepare dinners to go. The store will focus solely on food, stocked with fresh produce and meats as well as staples like bread, milk and eggs. There will be freshly prepared meals and other items shoppers can grab for lunch or on their way home from work.  The market also will feature a coffee bar and a cafe with outdoor seating.

She said she will buy and sell produce grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The meats will be free of antibiotics, steroids and added hormones. She also plans to make ample use of producers located within 150 miles of the store.

Ms. Koetters arrived in Pittsburgh in 2008 from Ann Arbor, Mich. She spent more than 12 years in the Navy, eight on active duty. As a naval flight officer, she flew missions over Iraq in early 2003 while on active duty. She also was stationed in Iraq as a reservist for a year ending in November 2009.
She got the idea for the new market while walking around the Cork Factory apartment complex and seeing the vacant store space. Right By Nature closed last April after less than three years at the location, saying it could not generate enough traffic to "maintain and grow the business."
Nonetheless, Ms. Koetters isn't the least bit anxious about taking over the spot, noting that Right by Nature was more of a full-scale supermarket than Marty's Market, with its focus solely on food, intends to be.

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate
Strip District