French Quarters

Owners: Renée Hunt and Chris Bronson

Address: 17 N. Block Ave.,

Fayetteville, 72701

Phone: 501-443-3355

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-

Saturday

Start-up date: Aug. 2

When Renée Hunt met Chris Bronson in Bronson’s shop, Feather Your Nest, Hunt knew something unique was brewing for Northwest Arkansas. Hunt speaks fluent French and teaches the language at Fay-etteville High School, while Bronson sells antiques in her interior design shop. For Hunt, the meeting was the beginning of a simple symbiosis.

Bronson and Hunt remove the tangles of distributors by making the buying trips to France themselves.

While in France, Hunt helps Bronson understand the language, and Bronson chooses the pieces to purchase.

Bronson is a talented designer, and she picks out the perfect pieces, Hunt says.

Until now, finding imported French antiques from as far back as 1790 required a drive to another, larger town.

“Now people don’t have to drive far away to Dallas,” Hunt says. “They can find what they need right here.”

Chandeliers, grandfather clocks and butcher tables are some of the antique pieces French Quarters brought in during the first shipment to Feather Your Nest.

Hunt plans to continue teaching French this year, but another buying trip is also being planned for September. Various contacts in France have helped the pair plan their buying trips, Hunt says.

“The contacts are from 20 years of trips to France,” Hunt says. “I absolutely love talking to so many different people.”