CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. – Cherina Shank’s store is full of personality and tales.
Another Man’s Treasure, at 76 S. Main St. in downtown Chambersburg, sells antiques and collectibles with a focus on fair trade.
“I like character. I think old things have more character,” Shank said. “I like stories. Usually, there’s a story behind the products.”
Her love for antiques came from her mother, with whom she shopped every Sunday after the family ate lunch together. It was “their thing,” Shank said.
She sees potential where some see trash.
Shank recalled a walk she took years ago with her husband on a night before the borough was going to do its annual bulk curbside pickup. A resident set a small, old vanity with a mirror out at the road to be discarded, but the Shanks picked it up and sold it for $60.
“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” said Shank, 50.
She opened an antique store, also called Another Man’s Treasure, in 2000 on North Main Street, where it stayed for a year. Then, the family and business moved to Franklin Street for another year.
Along came her two sons, now 17 and 18, with whom Shank stayed home until they reached school age, though she did host formal teas at their house during that time.
In 2008, she started an eight-year stint managing Ten Thousand Villages in Hagerstown, a fair-trade retailer of handcrafted home decor, accessories and gifts from around the world. She also sold merchandise at Olde Time Treasures, an antique store and flea market in Hagerstown.
But her heart was in Chambersburg.
“I knew that someday, I wanted to reopen,” Shank said. “I decided Chambersburg needed fair trade,” so she brought it to Main Street two years ago.
Shank explained that artisans across the globe do not seek charity, but instead want their handmade goods to be purchased at prices that allow them to make a decent living.
“It gives them a life of dignity, not a handout,” said Shank, who also sells dōTERRA essential oils. “Fair trade is a way to help them.”
A seasoned traveler, Shank speaks from experience. She was a missionary in Ecuador in the early 1990s, and reconnected after an earthquake in 2016 with a family she spent a lot of time with during her time there more than 20 years prior. She tries to go to that South American country every three to four months.
While there, she spends a couple of days shopping at a market in Otavalo, where the indigenous people sell their wares. She likened those natives to the Amish of Pennsylvania, describing them as well-educated and rooted in the Earth, with their own style of dress.
She enjoys building relationships with artisans, and now has several in Ecuador with whom she deals exclusively. When she goes there, she sometimes brings stylish U.S. clothes – some donated, some found on clearance racks, at yard sales and thrift stores – for her friends to sell.
“They might be poor, but they dress nice,” Shank said.
Through Another Man’s Treasure, she works with Serrv International’s site in New Windsor, Md. According to its website, Serrv was one of the first fair-trade organizations in the world.
Her spacious Chambersburg site sells products from more than 25 countries, including Ecuador, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Nepal, Peru, Kenya, Cameroon, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Swaziland and South Africa. The merchandise is diverse, incorporating home decor; fashion such as jewelry, scarves, ponchos made with alpaca fur and dresses; and consumables such as coffee, tea, chocolate, sauces and jams.
“This is a way I feel I can help them,” Shank said of selling global products at fair prices.
Fixtures make up the bulk of her antique offerings. She also peddles some locally made woodwork, ceramics, tea towels and macrame, which often are sold to support a cause about which the creators are passionate.
There is “a meaning behind the purchase,” Shank said.
The space she rents for her downtown shop has three small rooms that she reorganized during the pandemic shutdown, which began in mid-March. There, she will sell some of those American clothes she discovers and give a portion of the proceeds to those in need and to the Ecuadorian family by whom she has been informally “adopted.” Their son has leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant.
To expand her clientele and keep busy while nonessential businesses are not allowed to be open during the COVID-19 crisis, she got help from some tech-savvy friends and family to start a shop on Etsy (Etsy.com/Shop/AMTreasurePA). She delivers or ships the items to buyers.
Her sister, Jeanette Troyer of Accomac, Va., has been particularly helpful, sharing her knowledge as a businesswoman who sells “whatever” on eBay. Shank also will eventually sell items from her website, AnotherMansTreasurePa.com.
Sam Thrush, president of Downtown Chambersburg Inc., has tried to help keep Another Man’s Treasure on people’s minds through marketing efforts and a Facebook Live interview with Shank.
“It’s important for us to have these unique shopping stores in Chambersburg,” he said.
Thrush applauded Shank for videos she puts on the shop’s Facebook page offering gift ideas and sharing stories about some of the products she sells. Online efforts help ensure that businesses can stay viable until they are able to open their doors again and allow building owners to retain their retail tenants, he added.
“It’s important to keep our businesses in those storefronts through this (pandemic),” he said. “It’s important to keep them healthy.”
Shank is perpetually shopping to fill her store with unique items, always keeping fair trade in mind.
“My eyes are always open for treasures,” said Shank, who is eager to greet people who walk in the front door of her store, when the time is right.
“I can’t wait to reopen,” she said.
When Another Man’s Treasure is physically open after coronavirus restrictions are eased, her hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. She stays open longer during festivals, First Friday events and at Christmastime.
For more information, call 717-494-2160; go to Etsy.com/Shop/AMTreasurePA or AnotherMansTreasurePa.com; or find Another Man’s Treasure on Facebook.
