VIENNA — The Christmas open house at 63 Vintage Market & Antiques drew a steady flow of visitors this past Saturday and stepping through the door felt less like walking into a sale and more like entering another century. Even the store’s priciest item, the blades of an old farm windmill brought in from Kansas which is priced at $1,000, feels like it belongs to another era.

Co-owner Denine Bremer said the Christmas open house is “an every year event,” a tradition that has grown alongside the store’s reputation for rare and well-preserved antiques. She said the store keeps a collection of books that are over 200 years old.

“Some of the leather books we have are from the 1700s,” Bremer said. “When they’re that old and in good condition, I mean, that’s kind of amazing.”

Across the room, the craftsmanship from pieces carved out of single blocks of wood carried their own silent history.

“A lot of our wooden wares are from the 1800’s,” she said. “Many of the pieces are fashioned from lava wood (also known as volcano wood) and all cut out from one piece of wood.”

Bremer has spent close to four decades working with antiques, absorbing the trade and the stories that come with it. Working alongside Bremer are partners Joe Cardetti, Janie Reeves, Kelly McCall and John Viessman, all who have added to the shop’s collection over the years.

“I’ve done this for close to 40 years,” Bremer said. “Joe’s done it for 60, and John…he’s done it for over 50 years.”

The open house serves as both a holiday celebration and a gesture of gratitude. Bremer said the day’s discounts, which included everything from small percentage cuts to deals that could reach up to 50 percent depending on the purchase, was her appreciation to her customers.

Shoppers picked through shelves and tables, sometimes finding something as small as a hand-carved spoon or as large as a piece of furniture that carried an entire lifetime of use within the grain.

Bremer said the event is intended to bring activity and support into the community.

“We hope this brings people to our community,” she said. “And that they don’t just buy here at our store but they buy from all locals in the area, even if it’s at the gas station, or at the grocery store, or our neighbor who is just selling something they own.”

Bremer’s hope is simple,

“Anything to bring money into our community,” she said. “That’s what we want to grow.”

Her affection for Christmas echoes that same warmth that fills the store.

“We love to be with our friends, family and just surround ourselves with people that we enjoy being around,” she said. “It’s all about giving, it’s just the season.”

Though the store feels rooted in the past, it also reaches far beyond its walls. Bremer said their online sales have become “amazing,” often happening during Sunday evening pop-up auctions through social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

Items in the market range from all over the world. Bremer even said she is planning to travel to Germany soon to restock on some wares in her shop.

“We travel all over,” Bremer said. “We’re getting ready to go to Germany on a buying trip, and hopefully we’ll find some things that are very unusual that we don’t have here.”

Tucked into one corner of the shop was a stretch of shelves that felt like their own small museum, lined with books from the 1700s and 1800s, each one holding the weight of stories that outlived generations. Viessman, who much of the collection owes its thanks too, has had a pasion for books his whole life. Viessman said there are full sets of World War I books, an entire World War II collection and titles that chronicled Maries County’s history, alongside other nonfiction works that carried the marks of hands long gone.

Viessman said the oldest pieces included a leather-bound book from the 1700s written in French, its pages worn but still intact, a reminder of how knowledge can survive centuries when someone chooses to keep it safe.

For a single day, the Christmas open house brought the community together in a shop that feels suspended between eras. While the Christmas decorations around the shop may be temporary, 63 Vintage Market & Antiques sense of history and invitation are timeless.