Keep It Country Antiques

Owners: Joe and Brenda Velten

Address: 15746 Prairie View Road,

Prairie Grove 72753

Phone: 846-3565

Hours: No specific hours;

customers may stop in at any time.

Start-Up Date: May 1

“My wife and I have had a lot of practice refinishing old furniture and we thought maybe we could try to sell some of it, ” says Joe Velten, owner of Keep It Country Antiques. He and his wife, Brenda, specialize in refinishing American Country Furniture, specifically oak and pine. They also handle Hoosier kitchen cabinets and Beanie Babies.

“We do not sell trinkets or flea market junk of any kind,” Joe Velten says. Nor do they offer antique collectibles. The Veltens display some pottery and dishes, but the majority of their fare consists of antique furniture, of which they handle a wide variety. Some of their pieces date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s.

After collecting antiques for years, the couple ran out of space and had to offer their treasures to relatives. “We like old furniture and were buying and refinishing it for ourselves,” says Joe Velten. When it became evident that the couple had too many antiques and not enough space, the idea occurred to them to open their own store and sell the many pieces they specialize in refinishing. The Veltens are not snobbish about new furniture; they simply appreciate the worth and value of furniture as it ages.

The Veltens believed Northwest Arkansas was somewhat lacking in the area of antique furniture, and they were astute enough to recognize the demand for it. One of their most arduous tasks in running Keep It Country Antiques is actually finding the furniture itself. Therefore, the Veltens travel quite a bit in order to find the furniture they intend to sell, going to such places as Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. They even travel as far as North Dakota seeking out old and unusual finds. They say traveling is one of the most interesting parts of their business, specifically the people they meet along the way.

This store is not the place to shop if one is simply looking for random antiques or other such items. It is a store for those who wish to furnish their homes with the best of old American Country. The prices for some of their items are as low as $5, but the furniture itself can range up to $2,500 to $3,000, although the Veltens generally try to keep the prices low. The cost of the furniture depends upon what the Veltens themselves paid for it, and, if necessary, the effort it took them to refinish the piece.