Derek Lumsden and Sarah Thompson, who are both Iowa based experts on rural economic development, have teamed up to produce a Youtube channel dedicated to exploring the unique and fascinating businesses that can be found in small towns across Iowa. Lumsden, who runs Osceola based Polished Productions Consulting, and Thompson, who runs Radcliffe based Rural Revitalization LLC, share a passion for small town life, and have made it their mission in life to do what they can to help small towns stay magical.
The Eagle Reported before about the pair’s visit to Arden Scott Collectibles for their channel. That same day, they also crossed the street to explore another of Eagle Grove’s destination shopping sites for collectibles fans, Gramma’s Attic. The pair posted their Arden Scott video first, and have now uploaded their Gramma’s Attic episode.
Lumsden got right into it with Gramma’s Attic proprietor Tom Niederhauser. “So tell me,” Lumsden asked, “it’s Gramma’s attic, but you don’t look like a gramma.”
“No, but… I am Gramma,” Niedherhauser replied with a chuckle, and a shrug. But then he explained for real. “It was based off of my wife and her experiences with her grandmother and growing up in the attic and finding all sorts of neat stuff back in the day,”
Niederhauser then elaborated, revealing that he and his wife whose childhood inspired the business name had built their initial collection in the years before they retired from their prior careers. “We’ve been long-time collectors of the mid-century and retro stuff,” Niederhauser revealed, “and you know, we we frequented auctions and estate sales so we had a lot of stuff.”
In fact, they had so much that they really couldn’t think of what else to do with it, besides open a store and sell it. “we were almost to the point where, you know, we had too much. So, hence the store.”
Speaking to Chamber of Commerce director Sarah Middleton, who the duo credited with turning them on to the store, Thompson remarked, “I was really impressed with the downtown, how many stores. Because you drive by and you might not know yeah there’s all this stuff downtown.”
Asked by Lumsden what sort of special events they do to attract customers, Tom Niederhauser credited Middleton with bringing in a lot of business to town. “we have events all year long and they’re generated by our chamber director that works really hard to make Eagle Grove a draw for people to come visit.”
As they often do in their videos, Lumsden and Thompson then spent some time just goofing off. Lumsden took time to play with some vintage toys, while Thompson performed an impromptu skit with a vintage hair dryer and a retro telephone, and even drew Middleton into a silly game of dress up with vintage fancy gloves.
Cutting back to Derek and Tom, Lumsden asked what people come to the store looking for. “You know everybody’s looking for something that maybe their grandmother had that, you know, sparks of memory,” Tom replied, “I mean there’s a lot of the old kitchenware and pretties in the kitchen but, you know, the old furniture, bright color furniture too. People like that.”
Derek and Tom then spent some time talking about the store’s online following, with Niederhauser explaining that he does a little over half his business online, largely through Facebook and other antiquing websites. While still other shoppers may come from some distance to shop in the store.
Then Lumsden and Thompson convened behind the scenes, in the Niederhauser’s workshop in the back of the store, where Tom restores many of the pieces they sell, to talk together about the shopping opportunities Gramma’s Attic provides.
“I love stores like this,” Lumsden remarked.
“Oh my gosh, this was so fun there’s so many things to look at and do and find
“It’s not even my grandma’s attic,” Lumsden gushed, “it’s literally her living room and her kitchen…”
“And her toy store,” Thompson interjected, “I mean her toy room, her toys, all the stuff… Oh my god those are exactly the toys that I played with at my grandma’s house.”
“You know some of the toys out there I’ve never seen or I had similar or in the same vein, like some of the little men out there on some like the ferris wheel and the little crank they’re exactly the men I had in my Fisher Price toys when I was a kid,” Lumsden agreed.
“I mean you could do all your christmas shopping just in this one store and nobody would get the same thing, and everybody would love it,” Thompson pointed out.
“Well the thing is they might remember it, and be like ‘where’d you find this?'” Lumsden said, “I found it in Gramma’s Attic.”
Thompson said it was definitely worth the drive to Eagle Grove to check out the store, and Lumsden agreed emphatically. “This is a great place. If you’re thinking small town living and what it means to be in a rural community, you don’t get it any more than Gramma’s Attic. And the retro and vintage stuff, it’s fantastic!”
Giving the store and the city their ringing recommendation, the pair then signed off until next time.
But there’s more to this story, as there were seeds planted in that visit which have already borne fruit. That story will be told in a future edition of the Eagle.
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