Central Oregonian

Attracting treasure hunters

A new thrift shop, called the Honey Hole Thrift Shop, offers antiques and unique treasures

FAYE TAYLOR/SPECIAL TO THE CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Mike Lowen and Kim Tanori, standing in front of some of their merchandise at the Honey Hole Thrift Shop.

February 11, 2013

Like honey attracts Winnie the Pooh, The Honey Hole Thrift Store in Prineville attracts treasure hunters of all kinds.

Whether it’s a piece of furniture, an antique, or a one-of-a-kind home accent piece, the Mike Lowen family probably has it in their new 3,000 square feet store located at the North Lamonta Industrial Park.

In the beginning they hadn’t intended to have a retail space. The Lowens would bid on storage lockers and then sold things in yard sales. However when winter hit, they had to come up with another plan. At that point, they were having too much fun to quit for the winter.

They wanted to see if they could turn a hobby they enjoyed into a real business, so in November last year, they opened the Honey Hole Thrift Store as a retail business. “I go to Gresham, Portland, Beaverton to bid at storage auctions, so you won’t see any of my friends’ stuff in here,” Lowen said.

Because there’s no telling what can be found in storage lockers, they accumulate a lot of eclectic items.

“We have a little of everything,” said Kim Tanori, their daughter who often helps out. “Our prices are really good—that’s what everybody says.”

Indeed there is a huge array of items that changes about once a week as they acquire new storage lockers. They have recently

expanded to fill another room of items for sale. What they have at any given time depends on what is in the lockers they buy, so the variety is always good and always changing.

“We dicker here — it’s like a yard sale — offer something before you leave,” Lowen said. “I don’t collect anything, so I don’t siphon through things and eBay it. It all goes out on the floor.”

He explained that they buy and sell for very low prices, so if someone is looking for items to resell on the Internet, there is still room

in the price for profit. “I make money and they make money,” Lowen said.