Nothing about VM Madden Collections was planned, but that does not diminish the hard work Amy Garcia has put into her new antique store.

“It’s just like this huge bundle of different things all working together, and it’s really amazing. What I didn’t expect when I started it was how right up my alley it was going to be,” Garcia said.

Housed in the former Intervale Machinery & Supply building on Forest Street, VM Madden Collections features antiques and collectibles from 33 consignors, alongside architectural salvage rescued from landfills.

“It’s just a little part of what I can do in the world to make a difference in what goes into the landfills, which is huge,” Garcia said.

  • Windows from a 1880s church in New York that would have been destroyed if not salvaged and sold at VM Madden Collections. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Ledger-Transcript
  • More architectural salvage found at VM Madden Collections. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Ledger-Transcript
  • First floor of the store with thousands of antique items. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHLIN / Ledger-Transcript
  • Only some of the glassware found at VM Madden Collections. Credit: KIERA MCLAUGHILN / Ledger-Transcript

Origin story

Garcia and her husband, DJ Garcia, purchased the property roughly four years ago intending to renovate and lease its garages. The former hardware store required extensive repairs, including new plumbing, electrical systems, insulation, and flooring.

The project shifted direction after Garcia held a family yard sale at the building to help her parents and to sell the old tools left there. Given its size, people started asking whether they could sell their items there as well.

“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s an idea. I could do that,’” Garcia said.

This quickly became hard to organize, and Garcia decided to expand into consignment.

She opened her first Facebook account to access the marketplace feature and called herself Veronica Mae Madden, a name that eventually became the namesake of her business.

“It’s stemmed from my fake personality, and I thought it sounded fancy,” she said.

Over time, her business grew both in-store and online, even as she was still working full-time running Wilton House of Pizza with her husband.

“It all just happened exactly how I think it was supposed to, and then it went right in line with when we started feeling like we were ready to sell the restaurant,” she said.

Now, Garcia devotes her time to sourcing antique items for her store, helping people go through their old belongings, and selling the goods at online auctions.

‘Happy all the time’

Whether it’s the hours spent with customers going through every item in their basements or reorganizing the store when a new piece of furniture comes in, Garcia loves all aspects of her business.

“I love it, and I get to meet tons of cool people,” she said.

The store itself is filled to the brim with frames, glassware, doors, windows, sinks, and all types of furniture. When one thing sells, Garcia makes room for another by reshuffling the home-like sections of the store.

“I just love it because you can only decorate your house so many different ways … and here, I can rearrange any and everything all the time,” she said.

A huge part of her love for the work comes from her passion for keeping these items out of landfills and giving them a second life.

“It’s crazy, especially when resources are so limited and things are so expensive, but yet we just all keep throwing things away,” Garcia said.

Garcia meets people every day who do not know what to do with all their collectibles or their loved one’s old belongings, and part of her job is to figure out how much each item is worth and find a new home for it.

One of her favorite parts is hearing the history from previous owners and watching the item’s new life unfold after purchase.

“It doesn’t end up in a landfill, and then they get money, someone else gets to buy it and love it, and so everyone’s just happy all the time,” Garcia said.

The same can be said for the building. Amy and DJ both knew the former owner, Richard (Dick) Rantamaki, and often traded food from the Wilton House of Pizza for tools before he passed away.

Now, Garcia has repurposed the building, giving it a second life while respecting its history.

“Sometimes I’ll be here alone, and I’ll just hear noises, and I’m like, ‘Hey, Dick.’ We loved him, and he was very fond of us as well,” she said.

The majority of Garcia’s business is conducted online or by appointment, but each month on a Saturday, she opens the store for a couple of hours.

To learn more about VM Madden Collections, visit the website: https://vmmaddencollections.com/