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| Road to The Vintage Emporium Filled With 'Delightful Things" By Ofelia Saenz, Signal Tribune staff writer 
Every once in a while, a wrong turn leads down the right road. Returning home with her daughter from a friend's house one day last March, Julie Woolley decided to make a right turn instead of a left in the direction of her home. As they drove through the neighborhood, they noticed, tucked in a corner of the busy intersection at Orange and Wardlow, an empty storefront with a "for rent" sign in the window. The next day, Woolley shook hands with the landlord and on April 1 she opened the doors to her new business, The Vintage Emporium. The quaint store is a cozy pocket filled with delightful things. From handcrafted jewelry to vintage linens, collectible pottery, paintings and garden items, Woolley has furnished every inch of her shop with one-of-a-kind items. "It happened really fast," says Woolley. The affable mother of four and assistant kindergarten teacher converses from behind a clear glass display of colorful handmade and vintage jewelry. She keeps a comfortably worn Queen Anne chair close by that California Heights residents have already made a regular destination while on their walks around the neighborhood. Although the store was borne from Woolley's lifelong love for collecting curious pieces, she's clearly enjoying the social aspect of owning the shop. Woolley has been gathering vintage and collectible pieces for years. "I would go to thrift stores and garage sales all the time," she says. "I love to shop." She has a selective eye and has stocked her shelves with pristine items that show their years in style rather than wear. Woolley is more interested in the stories attached to things that were once in someone else's home than with their monetary value. "I got him from an estate sale," she says referring to a bronze sailor. The statue looks eerily like the one that peers over Bluff Park. As she looks around the shop, she has an obvious sentimental attachment to every item in the room. But, she acknowledges, "I'm not a museum." Perhaps it's her background working with children, but Woolley treats the things in her store as though she were a caretaker rather than a shopkeeper; The Vintage Emporium is a temporary stop for the quiet memories locked in so many precious sundries. The Vintage Emporium is located at 3423 Orange Avenue in California Heights. For more information, call (562) 988-8460. |