ONE OF HOPE’S BEST KEPT TREASURES OF DOWNTOWN’S ANTIQUE SHOPS – MEET LOUISE MARTIN
This is a story about antiques and treasures.
One treasure that has been a mark of the wonderful downtown antique shops on Elm Street in Hope is Louise Martin and her Elm Street Marketplace.
Walking in the building for the first time is an immediate step into history, taking in the antique glass counters of old which protect the other beautiful collectables.
While she is the friendly face who first greets the visitors, a person could make a lot of money asking folks to guess her age.
That would be 95-years-young Louise Martin.
A mighty impressive number that almost becomes a quick sidenote when sitting down to talk on a recent quiet morning.
Living in Hope since arriving in 1947, Martin remembers fondly what downtown was like in those early years.
“I loved it when I first came here,” Martin explains. “It was always bustling with people shopping and all the shops were open. We had a couple of grocery stores, shoe stores, and many others.
I thought it was the neatest and such a quaint little town.”
Martin also picked up on the key ingredient of this area and that is the friendliness of the locals and visitors alike.
“The people were all so very friendly here,” she states. My adopted granddaughter came from Colorado to visit and just fell in love with the people here. She couldn’t believe how many people I knew and who knew me,” Martin says fondly.
Originating in Tucson, Arizona, Martin did note there were some local foods that she had not been accustomed to the desert of Arizona.
“Like making cornbread,” she chuckles. “That wasn’t done back home in Arizona. We had a different diet back there.
“I have three children, Gloria is the oldest, followed by Barbara, who owns the shop now, and then my son, Robert. The girls live here in Hope and Robert is in Murfreesboro.”
Taking a leap backwards in time, who were Martin’s mentors and life’s teachers?
“I think it would be my mom,” Martin says easily. “And she lived to be 101 years old.
“To me, she was always a young person. She always had a sense of humor, and she would play with us children, no matter what age. Plus, I remember that the neighbors would come over and she’d be telling stories and would really enjoy visiting with others.”
Martin had a good background in sales, especially antique and gift shop sales, shaping her natural personality as a salesperson.
“In Tucson, I worked in a furniture store and in a little millinery shop, but I was barely 18 at the time,” she notes.
“After my husband passed away in 1973, I needed to do something, and a couple here in Hope had a gift shop and did furniture repairs.
“So, I bought the gift shop and ran that for a while. Then, I bought the little church building at Fifth and Grady here in Hope and moved my shop in there.
“I sold gifts and crafts and even had art classes,” harkening back to times in Hope when children were seen after school moving from one location to another with a music case in hand or a bundle of near-finished art projects.
“We moved to Hervey street, took over a little house there and sold things and…..,” as Martin begins to trail off, sigh and say with a laugh, “I’ve been here a long time and we’ve been a lot of places in this town.”
Many readers can recall what Hope’s North Hervey Street looked like in the earlier years leading up to the 80’s. Both sides of the two-lane street were lined with some of the most beautiful Oak trees which had been continually cared for and shaped perfectly for many, many years.
Quite a few of our residents literally grew up with those trees too. But as the town progressed and needed more driving space on Hervey, the trees, but not their memories, were sadly taken by the chainsaw.
It wasn’t lost on Martin.
“That was so sad,” she sighed. “It just broke my heart when they did that. Just because those trees were starting to meet in the middle (like a beautiful canopy). I really cried over that.”
Martin recalls a time where the homes that line Highway 67 and in pockets off various of the main avenues are the reminders of a time where many lived their life of luxury more “up town” than in rural locations. “Those homes were so beautiful,” she commented. “There were trees, flowers and gardens that were really pretty to see as everything was meticulously kept back then.”
“I’ve always been into collecting,” Martin states. “I’ve always worked with collectables, gifts, and art was also in my background. I’ve dealt with new things and a lot of older things in the shop too. I guess I’ve been doing this for about 50 years,” she beams.
But now, located in the heart of downtown Hope, she’s found her final place of business, surrounded by family and friends and customers alike who come-and-go while gently radiating love and appreciation.
“I get tickled at (daughter) Barbara because she didn’t seem interested in anything like this early on and now, she’s right in the middle of it all. It’s wonderful to know she’s able to take this shop over and continue running it. “
What’s the morning routine like for this 95-year-old before opening the store?
“Well, I thank the Lord first,” she says with a chuckle. “Then, I look forward to the day. I don’t want to stay at home, I want to come up here.
“I can’t do as much as I used to but I’m able to do the job,” she notes.
Many readers can agree that a body sometimes needs a place to go during waking hours, to fill their hands and minds, to interact and engage with others, to exercise bodies and brains.
Martin is no different.
“I need a place to go to for sure,” Martin states. “I think that’s why I keep coming here. I don’t sit and dwell on myself. I could easily say ‘oh, I don’t feel good,’ and stay home but I just put that behind me and move on,” she laughs.
“I feel wonderful these days. I look forward for the day,” she states. “If we have something planned downtown or in the store, I look forward to that as well.”
Martin is a proud member of the Hope Church of Christ.
“I have a wonderful family there,” she remarks. “I just look forward to seeing them all each and every week. It’s a wonderful congregation and we love for folks to come visit and be with us for services.”
Martin is blessedly surrounded by a wonderful support network, from her immediate family to business members downtown, to church family members and to the many customers who visit the store each day.
“It’s been so wonderful because I have met so many people here in the store,” she says. “I have met folks who came off the interstate, who now come back and stop in Hope just to see me!
“So it sort of inspires me to come on into the shop because I may miss seeing one of my friends who may have come to stop in and see me.”
“I Love it here. I Love Hope. I couldn’t have picked a better place to live.”
One must ponder, that living things, like antiques, become more valuable as they age, and each of those living things has a story that is unique and separates them from all others. Well, in that case, we in Hope have ourselves a gem in Louise Martin.