Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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"Preaching Pickers" spreading their love of antiquing
Posted: 02.20.2013 at 4:33 PM
Tess Hedrick

Tess Hedrick is a Multimedia Journalist for KTVO.

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One of the 1,000's of antiques Sheri Lock and Gary Smith have collected  / KTVO's Tess Hedrick
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MARTINSBURG, IOWA -- “Everyday is different. It’s just kind of like you were treasure hunting when you were a kid running up and down the creeks looking for treasure. That’s what we do everyday of our life, just running up and down the roads. You never know what you’re going to buy. You never know what you’re going to find. You never know what you’re going to see. You never know how much you’re going to sell it for,” said Gary Smith, Buyers Edge Wholesalers.

They call themselves the Preaching Pickers and they’re located at Fort Smith, just a few miles east of Hedrick.

There are tens of thousands of items located in the nine eclectic sheds in the restored town of Fort Smith.

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And these partners in crime Sheri Locke and Gary Smith aren’t just driving down the street to find these antiques. They are driving thousands and thousands of miles and bringing them back to a picker’s paradise, what is Buyers Edge Wholesalers – the business that was birthed by the two of them.

“It's a one stop fill is what it is. Rather than go to this shop and that shop and try to pick their way across America, they can come to one place, have fun, eat dinner have somebody else load their stuff and just get all their merchandise here and we know what they want and that's what the business is all about,” said Sheri Locke, Buyers Edge Wholesalers.

This dynamic duo unknowingly caught the attention of a new show on HGTV called ‘West End Salvage’ which premiered on Valentine’s Day. And they both said it’s been a very positive experience.

“And when they asked us it was exciting and when we got to experience it, that was exciting and then the day after the very first show, he gets hit on at Taco Johns so he's all excited,” said Locke.

And they give this advice if you want to start doing some picking of your own.

“Buy what you like, don't worry about -- if it’s affordable and you like it, that's the thing to buy because what was hot and valuable yesterday isn’t today so buy what you like,” said Locke.

“Be true to yourself -- buy what you really enjoy because if you’re going to look at it everyday you want something you’re really going to enjoy,” said Smith.

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