Scranberry Coop houses amazing treasures and is expanding vendor opportunities

Andover — Have you ever seen something you just had to have while browsing through a store? Something unique that caught your eye? If you find such a treasure at Scranberry Coop, on Main Street, snatch it up or chances are, it’ll be gone when you come back. The store’s owners preach to their customers: “We’ve seen too many people come back, realizing they have to have something and it’s already sold.” Scranberry Coop has been in business for 20 years. Nikki Schiro and Lori English have owned it for nearly a decade. The store was opened by Schiro’s aunt, Gale Breen. Schiro started renting out space and that led to her buying it. Now more than 120 vendors rent space. In 1999, English left her job as a record label owner and manager of a music distribution company, and Schiro left her position working in music distribution and for a tax firm, to purchase Scranberry Coop. The partners keep the spaces and items tidy, do the paperwork and, along with the vendors who volunteer in exchange for discounted rental space, handle the cash register. At Scranberry Coop, visitors can browse through the various rooms and booths to their hearts’ content. Scranberry Coop’s riches are collectables, like signed baseball cards and sports memorabilia and “knock off” pocketbooks and sun glasses that look just like the name brands they mimic. There are china dishes and plates galore with all kinds of etchings on them, ranging from rose buds to Independence Hall. Paintings hang here and there. A vintage Mickey Mouse lunch box was an eye catcher. An authentic, once specially ordered, vintage child’s wooden rocking horse amused this reporter’s daughter until she had to have it. Other shoppers were enamored with the wide array of jewelry that included everything from pearls to charms to all sorts of blitz and bling. Scranberry Coop’s vendors hail from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Rates vary depending on the size and location, from $50 for a booth to a few hundred dollars for a large room. Said Schiro, “We are a great place to rent space and sell merchandise. Vendors do not have to work at the Scranberry Coop, we are responsible for paying the sales tax and everything is computerized. We make renting here extremely fun and easy.” English added, “Our staff goes out of their way to make everyone feel appreciated, creating a high repeat customer base, and many of them are not just customers, but friends. We are so grateful for their continued support. In addition, we offer a wide variety of merchandise, not just antiques and collectibles. We have a home decor, wood restoring and refinishing products, McCutcheon Farms Jams and Jellies as well as Raven’s Brew coffees, travel mugs and shirts from Alaska, a fabulous blend of great coffee and a great sense of humor [with names like Wicked Wolf, Dead Man’s Reach and Bruin Blend]. We have so many items below $20 that you can spend an entire day walking down memory lane without spending every dollar in your wallet!” Schiro and English are considering expanding the number of vendors. At Scranberry Coop, almost everything sells. The owners said, “We don’t really ‘screen’ merchandise. We try to keep our merchandise in the genres of antiques, collectibles and home décor and ask vendors to avoid anything too much like a yard sale item or too new.” Adding to the atmosphere are three dogs: Alex is an unclipped Doberman mix, now 10; Cooper is a laid-back Golden Retriever named after the store; and five-year-old Sydney is a three-legged Shepherd-Collie mix who’s been around Scranberry for the past three months. All are very friendly and help Schiro and English greet their customers and vendors. Scranberry Coop is the low-lying building on Route 206 on the outskirts to the South of the borough of Andover. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Schiro and English call Scranberry Coop an antique store, “but we’re not stuffy.” They laugh and joke with the customers, and if someone comes through the door feeling down or in a bad mood, English said, “There’s a pretty good chance we’ll get them out of the door with a smile on their face.” For information, call 973-786-6414 or send an e-mail to scranberrycoop@att.net.