Military retirees open store “where old and new worlds meet”

TRYON – When Scott and Karolyn Hooper exited the military and entered retirement, their next mission came in the form of an unexpected inheritance.

Karolyn’s mother, who was of German heritage, passed away a few years ago in Washington and left her and Scott an inheritance of antiques. With the inheritance came a big decision: what do we do with them? The couple decided to open Hoop’s Antiques at 112 S. Trade Street in the Shops of Tryon.

“Rather than having an estate sale, we came up with the idea to not get rid of these things that my parents had worked so hard for over their lifetimes. We wanted to honor them with opening an antique store,” Karolyn said. “Since we were in Europe, we had the ability to add to the base of European antiques and Polish pottery.”

Karolyn served 23 years in the military while Scott served 26, and the duo has served in missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Europe. Karolyn served with the North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO) as commander. Scott served at the Pentagon for four years and has been decorated with two Legion of Merit Awards, three Bronze Stars and two Defense Meritorious Service Medals. Most recently, Scott was the director of training exercises in the U.S. Army Europe for two years in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The couple now lives at Lake Adger. Scott said the couple thought an antique store would be great for Tryon because it would allow them to take their time going through the pieces left by Karolyn’s mother.

“We knew we wanted to retire soon and knew we were going to come here as we now have a property at Lake Adger that we bought in 2010,” Scott explained. “While we were stationed in Fort Bragg, Kay was in Afghanistan and I was in Iraq when the house popped up and we both jumped on it because we knew that’s where we wanted to be. We thought a little antiques store in Tryon would be great and that we don’t need to rush through all of the things we got in the estate.”

Karolyn said opening the business in downtown Tryon, with the help of the local chapter of Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), an outfit that helps small businesses get started, is part of being “in the middle of Main Street America’s revival,” adding she and her husband have served the nation and continue to contribute by co-owning the small antiques business.

“This is completely new for us and we have no retail experience, but we’re going to show up to work with a good attitude every day and it’s going to be fun,” Scott said. “We’re going to be selling a lot of German, French, Belgian 18th and 19th century pieces with things also from the U.K. We have a particular piece that is a market cart that was actually built from the teak wood from a British warship from the 1800s.”

In addition to pottery, furniture and antiques, Hoop’s Antiques will also sell fine art like bronze statues and paintings, according to Karolyn, and vintage items like light fixtures and home décor, according to Scott, like demijohns used by the Italians to make wine that can be decorated with corks and candles. Scott and Karolyn also serve complimentary coffee to visitors of the shop.

“As we were transitioning out of the Army, they have a program called Boots to Business. The Army contracted out professors from Syracuse University who came down and gave a three-day seminar on entrepreneurship,” Scott explained. “By the end of it, you would know whether doing this is for you or not. We came out of it so excited just because we really love the potential of what we can do and we love people. That’s why we served for so long, because we love people and our soldiers are so incredibly amazing from all over the country.”

Learning the history of the pieces they have acquired is what Karolyn described as a passion for her. She said most of the pieces in the shop have a unique story. Scott added that going to some of the locations where the pieces were found is his favorite thing.

“We love how there’s a story associated with some of these items,” Karolyn said. “I think that’s the passion in all of this. We’ve got a lot of Polish pottery. I’m a big believer in it because it’s been in my kitchen for years and years and it’s so incredibly awesome. There’s literally women sitting in where we lived in Poland painting these dishes and pottery. They are made so solidly that you can stick them in the oven and microwave, and they will last forever if you take care of them.”

Scott and Karolyn said their slogan is “where old and new worlds meet.” They held a soft opening on Oct. 22 in the shop space across from Vines and Stuff owned by John and Ann Gargiulo.

The store will officially open on Nov. 4 with a champagne toast at 6 p.m. and will maintain operating hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The shop will be closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.