After enjoying years of collecting meaningful things, Joan Richardson realized she needed to start sharing her treasures with others.

“It's difficult when you reach an age when you finally realize you can't keep everything,” she says. “You have to pick and choose what is really important to keep. I had so much in storage that I had five storage buildings at one time, but I was afraid to just pitch boxes without knowing everything that was in them. I planned yard sales, but you can't do that with that much stuff, and you can't impose on friends to come that often.”

Joan needed a place to sell her collections — cow creamers, yearbooks, records, plates, animal collectibles, China sets she used in her home over the years, vintage items and so much more — and after her husband died in 2000 and she retired and moved to Loxley in 2005, Joan also needed a place to belong.

“Being retired, I love my home, but you can get isolated,” she says.

Last February, Joan noticed the building next to the Piggly Wiggly on Highway 59 had been turned into an antique and thrift store, what is now 2 Cousins Emporium.

“I live within two blocks of the shop, and when I saw they were looking for vendors, I got one booth and quickly found out I would need a second one,” she says. “That month, we totally filled up with 15 vendors, and they're all still here.”

Joan found the space and the friends she needed at 2 Cousins Emporium, and she says she couldn't imagine her life without it now.

“It not only helps me get my things out to pass onto others, but it also gets me out of the house and interacting with other people,” she says. “We have so much fun with each other. I would feel sad to have missed these people. What is the chance of finding 15 vendors that are so caring and supporting of each other? Several of us are retired, and we don't have to be in the shop all the time, but we enjoy each other's company, so we spend a lot of time here.”

Glenda Neil, one of the “cousins” and part owner of 2 Cousins Emporium, says she feels like her vendors and customers are all part of one big family. She says she loves coming to work to meet new people and to spend time with vendors like Joan who spend a lot of time at the store.

“Joan has been here since the beginning,” she says. “And she's our biggest advertisement. We don't do any advertising — it's all word-of-mouth — and Joan tells everyone about us.”

Joan even took the initiative to send out an email newsletter to everyone who signed her guestbook.

“We have people from all over the country come in here, and I have more than 100 people on my email list,” she says.

In one of her newsletters, Joan tells her subscribers about a bookplate her father had in all of his many books, which he loaned out frequently.

“... [it] said, 'I enjoy sharing my books as I do my friends, asking only that you treat them well and see them safely home,'” she writes. “So, as I part with my treasures, I also would ask of you that whatever you purchase from me that you treat them well and see them safely home.”

About 2 Cousins Emporium

OFFERS: Jewelry, books, furniture, new, used and vintage items

NUMBER OF VENDORS: 15

LOCATION: 1075 N. Hickory St. (Highway 59), Loxley