A family with deep roots in Brown County recently opened another local establishment that provides a spin on traditional shopping.
Duke Street, located at 600 West Commerce in Brownwood, is owned by Paul and Jessica Staton and has been open a little over a month. Their store features not only antiques, but several new items as well – some of which are created locally.
“I wanted to try and do something a little different and diversify and not depend on one particular thing to get us by,” Jessica Staton said. “We’ll just see what Brownwood wants us to carry and what the people driving up and down and the highway that stop in, what they’re looking in for. Everything that’s in there we love. It’s not something I don’t like that someone else might like, it’s really things we both love. We’ve really enjoyed it, we’ve had some great people come in. Everybody has been very supportive and very sweet and very uplifting about the store. ”
Paul Staton said. “This was going to be our retirement, then we started working on this place, and it morphed and changed as we working on it. We wanted a different clientele, and we wanted something that nobody else had.”
Regarding the naming of the store, Jessica Staton stated it might be a little confusing since the physical address isn’t actually on Duke Street – but it’s close enough.
“I couldn’t come up with a name I loved, I’d like something for a week or two, and then I thought no it’s not just not the name for the store,” Jessica Staton said. “Then I was outside one day and some utility people were trying to find the store and I said it’s 600 West Commerce and said it was on the side street of Duke Street, and I just loved that. We’re both huge John Wayne fans, we have some John Wayne things in the store, we have a dog named Duke, so we just went with Duke Street.”
Both raised in Brown County in families that owned local businesses, the Statons began working on their store four years ago, though they were unsure what exactly the building would become.
“I’ve been in and around Brownwood all my life,” Paul Staton said. “My dad had Harris Auto Supply at the bottom of Bangs Hill whenever I was growing up. Her dad had Chandler Auto Supply in Early. This used to be a wrecking yard which was J-Bo’s and it was mother’s and stepdad’s and I bought it off my mom in 1992 after Jasper, her husband, died.
“We rented it out, we did this and we did that with it, then about five years ago we decided we didn’t want to rent it anymore. About four years we started working on it trying to get it ready to do something, which we didn’t know for sure what that was going to be.”
Along with traditional items one would find in an antique store, the Statons sell candles made by their daughter Chandler, pour paintings from disabled Marine vet Stan McCombs of Brownwood, cutting boards from Steve Bailey of Early, and will soon offer art from Jeremy Serna of Painting with Friends. Western gear and attire is also available and more state-related merchandise will be coming soon. European furniture, home décor and women’s jewelry are also sprinkled throughout the store, and there is a variety of Christmas-themed items available with more seasonal merchandise planned throughout the year.
The Statons also provide free cups of Arbuckle Coffee for all their visitors, which can be purchased as well.
“We’ve got old and new and not much in between,” Paul Staton said with a laugh. “We love the old stuff, you can’t go today and buy quality like they used to make. And you can’t pass it along and give it to your kids, and we’re all about family. We’ve got stuff that no one else does, and we have people from the big cities come in and asking where we find this stuff and they’re collectors. All I know is God has taken us in the right direction to find the right things. So far it’s been a blessing.”
The Statons added there are already plans to further expand the store on the property, but as was the case with the initial concept, they aren’t quite sure which direction they want to go at the moment.
Duke Street is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. For more information, visit the Duke Street Facebook page.
