An antiquing we will go

The term “thrill of the hunt” usually refers to a hunter going out into the woods to bag a big buck. For one retired Evangeline Parish School Board employee, the term refers to going out in search of antique items to sell in her shop on Ville Platte’s Main Street called The Wyble Collection.
Jacki Wyble admitted that it was never her intention or her plan to open an antique shop when she retired. “I retired from the school board after 40 years,” she said. “I was the superintendent’s secretary for probably about 20 years, and I started this for fun.”
The fun in dealing with antiques began after rummaging through the home of her boyfriend’s parents. “I’ve been dating this guy Jerry from Alexandria for 19 years, and he was an only child,” Wyble said. “His parents died in their 90s. They lived on the Red River in Alexandria and had an old barn and a huge house. They were old country people. His mom kept things from her high school days until the day that she died. Jerry asked me to go through all that stuff because he never went back to the house after his mom died.”
Wyble said that Jerry’s mom “had her salutatorian speech from high school and so many cool old things.” She added that his parents “were very political and had all kinds of political paraphernalia and papers.”
“When that finished, it was like I wanted to dig,” she continued. “I still wanted to hunt for treasure, so I started going to flea markets and buying with no intention, no place to put it, and nothing to do with it. I started using the building next door for storage, and all of my friends and Jerry encouraged me to open a flea market. I was going to do that, but it ended up being antiques.”
After storing the items for three-and-a-half years, Wyble turned a couple of sick days from the school board into what could be seven days of finding and selling antiques.
“I left the school board one day with the intentions of starting to use up my sick days, and I was going to be part time,” she stated. “ I opened this on March 3, and it’ll be two years next March. I never went back to the school board office one day because this was overwhelming.”
“People came in here, and they wanted me to look for this and find that for them,” she continued. “I just wasn’t expecting how much work was involved.”
Wyble explained what a normal week is like. “I’m usually in Alexandria on Mondays,” she said. “I go to Alexandria to see about Jerry, and if I see an estate sale sign or an auction sign or something then I’ll do that while I’m there. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, unless I have to do something with one of my grandchildren or one of my children, I am here pricing things, rearranging things, cleaning things, and getting ready to open. I am open Thursdays, Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and until 2:00 on Saturdays.”
She also explained what to her is so appealing about antiques. “I think it’s my age,” Wyble said. “I liked antiques all of my life, but when I grew up my mom didn’t. She grew up with it and didn’t care for it, so we didn’t have much in our house. We had a few little pieces that might have been her mom’s or her dad’s, but it wasn’t really any furniture.”
“What’s also appealing is the hunt for something that just strikes me when I see it,” she continued. “I like so many things. It’s not one thing in particular that I like. Glassware is my favorite because I have so much of it.”
This time of year with Christmas drawing near, Wyble offers a wide array of Christmas items. “I have pretty many, and they have been good sellers,” she stated. “At the end of this Christmas season, I’ll probably hit a lot of stores and buy things when they’re like 75-percent off. Then I’ll store them for next year to try to give them a little age before I bring them in here. Of course I pick up vintage Christmas items when I can find them, but they sell out as fast as I put them out.”
“I do the Christmas items because I love Christmas, and I have been collecting Christmas things since I got married in 1973,” she continued. “I have tons of it, so I put it in here.”
The main things for Wyble about minding the store are her customers and the fun she has. “Personally, I have learned so much from my customers because I don’t know antiques that well,” she said. “I’m learning. Other dealers come in here and talk about certain things, and I’ll question them because I want to learn more.
“It’s addictive,” she continued. “It’s that fun. I catch myself putting my personal business aside and not taking care of it like I should and doing just the fun things involved in this. I could do this everyday.”