Past, present and future.

That’s what awaits anyone who opens the door at Forest Avenue Antiques at 2025 Forest Ave. in Great Bend, according to store owner Amber Smith.

“We have a little bit of everything here,” Smith noted.

There are antiques, yes. The corner shop, which dates back to Great Bend’s vintage days as a general store, was originally an active space for the Great Bend Oddfellows organization in the 1870s. Heading into the current century, however, it has been an outlet for local vendors to bring in their collectibles for consignment sale from the Golden Belt area. 

These days, there is so much more.

Some examples:

• Smith arranged in February for a McPherson egg farmer to bring in cartons of “Chicken Track” pasture-raised, large brown grade A eggs for sale in an effort to meet local demand.

• Amber’s husband Jared, director of pharmacy for the University of Kansas Health Systems - Great Bend Campus, also consigns a space in the shop’s refrigerated unit for his Amber Meadows Microgreens. He adds locally grown produce during the growing season in the spring, summer and fall.

• Golden Belt Beef, St. John, has space in the refrigerator as well, as does cheese from the Jason Wiebe Dairy in Durham, Kan., in business for about 20 years.

• Jenna Andrews has consignment space for Discovery Toys.

• Local artist Melanie Ryan has original paintings for sale, as well as artistically repurposed items for a special look.

Most all of wares in the store have in common the fact that they originated in Kansas, with most of the antiques and vintage items coming from the Golden Belt area, Smith said.

“We do our best to promote Kansas-made products,” Smith said. “A lot of the items in our store are local treasures. They are things that come from generations of people here in Kansas.”

The vendors pre-date Smith’s two-year ownership of the shop. They include: Darla Clarke, eight years; Linda Dougherty, 10 years and Becky Draney, 10 years.

A lot of the items are treasures from the women’s personal collections.

“I’ve got things in my house right now that I haven’t brought in because I’m not ready to give them up,” noted Draney, who regularly contributes antique furniture pieces into the mix. “I bought it to sell and when I look at it, I think ‘not yet.’”

For those who are adding to their own collections, Smith is confident that there is something that will fit their decor.

“Things from the past, in the present, into the future. I think that gives people the experience of what we are about here,” she said.