I've passed this place many times over the years- I suspect it has been here since I was a kid, or much longer- but I was always sort of unsure whether it's actually still open for business.
On a recent sunny Saturday, I was walking around town with some friends who were visiting Greenport for the first time, and the door to Shearer Shop was standing ajar, making it evident that it was indeed open. My two friends and I share a love of antiques/thrifting/salvage and were keen to check it out.
The first impression was not great. The shop is very cluttered, with items stacked high and only very narrow pathways remaining to walk between them- like a scene out of one of the tamer episodes of the TLC show Hoarders. Undaunted, we squeezed our way through one of the tiny routes, noticing a few cool things (and also some rather creepy things) and pointing them out to each other.
There were two other customers in the shop as well, a couple, and we overheard the owner telling them, perplexingly, that she would only allow one of them to go upstairs at a time. Once finished with this interaction she was suddenly on top of us, following us around closely for a minute. Eventually she rudely and repeatedly pointed at me saying, "You! You need to leave your bag outside! You!!"
We had just come from the beach and I had a small tote with a towel in it. My female friend had a similar bag but for some reason it did not trigger this woman's very specific bag alert system. (For the record, "outside" was apparently an unattended folding chair on the stoop.)
Rather than abide by the proprietress's bizarre rules, we left. I would have liked to peruse the odd wares a little longer, but with a number of fantastic and friendly antique/vintage/thrift shops nearby, I don't have the time or patience for the antiquing equivalent of "No soup for you!!"
Will not return. But +1 star for the laughs we had about it on the walk home. read more