Napa's Pope Valley General Store antiques to be sold at auction
NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- A one-of-a-kind sale will take place this weekend in Napa County. It has nothing to do with last month's earthquake or anyone's wine collection. This going-out-of-business sale has been decades in the making.
Everybody is looking for authenticity these days, they like the real old stuff. Based on what ABC7 News saw inside, antique buyers are going to go nuts at the auction.
This may be one of those places you have passed and hardly noticed. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, chances are you did not know what was inside. The Pope Valley General Store gave an immersive glimpse into our past and all the contents inside will go up for sale at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
It's older than the pavement, but not the road. It's a conversation piece from the outside and now we know that's the least of it.
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"The last day it was open was whatever month of 1971," owner Brad Kirpkatrick said.
So when visitors described the Pope Valley General Store as a time capsule, they're understating the fact.
It's been in Kirkpatrick's family since 1875 and closed ever since his grandfather, who ran the place, died in a car crash.
On Saturday, Kirkpatrick puts all the contents up for sale.
Auctioneer Brian Witherell describes it as being unique beyond description. "It tells the history of the valley, general stores. Sells the history of rural country life was like before we turned into a wine region for the rich and famous," he said.
They will sell the items in lots, shelf by shelf stuff from the bar, from the main store and from the post office.
Maybe the most evocative part of them all, is a hotel complete with rooms still ready to occupy, minus the dust. Back in 1875, this was a stage coach stop and people had to sleep. "That was where they would stay because the stage would not run at night," Kirkpatrick said.
It spent all those years shuttered up. Kirkpatrick never kept the place running because he's a mechanic by trade and not a storekeeper.
He rebuilt an old family Model-T, if anyone is interested.
"Well it's licensed in 1924. But it's ready to go," Kirkpatrick said.
