Potluck Findings, an antique and vintage furniture shop at 379 W. Glenside Avenue, is looking to make some big changes in the near future.

Owners Joe and Denise Hector are in the process of liquidating their inventory. The property was sold over the summer with retirement to follow. That was until the Hectors’ four children—Stephanie, Damian, Shana, and Brandon, all Cheltenham High grads—stepped in with an alternative plan.

“I was ready to give it away, but my kids wanted to hold onto it. It’s a decent property, a beautiful location,” Joe, a Bishop McDevitt graduate who grew up on the 300 block of Tyson Avenue, said. “We’re trying to get rid of everything inside by the end of November. My kids are looking into so many options that I’ve never considered. They have ideas but we don’t know exactly which direction things will go.”

Potluck Findings launched in the mid-1990s as an unplanned response to Joe’s first business, Dip & Strip, a furniture restoration shop. Dip & Strip launched in 1984 and relocated from its original location—about four properties down the road—in 1992.

“We started with unfinished, stripped furniture. Chairs, shutters, doors, everything. Sometimes people wouldn’t come back to get their stuff, so I started selling it,” Joe said. “People would come here looking for old doors, because we had them. People who were redoing their houses became our customers.”

379 W. Glenside Avenue was home to a beer distributor prior, Joe said.

“The guy sold the liquor license and never told me. He put a sign out one day that said the building was for sale,” he said. “I had to move my shop out of that building, so I grabbed the sign, threw it under a bush, and got the agent’s number.”

Joe and Denise (née Guarro) started dating as seventh graders. They graduated from McDevitt in 1970 and got married a few years later. Their first apartment was above the now-defunct Rizzo’s Restaurant & Pizzeria, which came through Denise’s uncle, Louis Rizzo, who co-founded the restaurant in 1946. (TreVi Cucina Italiano came along in 2011.)

“We spent our first year and two months on top of Rizzo’s. It hadn’t been used for awhile. One of Denise’s family members had lived there prior,” Joe said. “Mr. Rizzo told me he’d help me out, so he took me to the bank and vouched for me. I married his sister’s daughter and he helped me get a loan.”

Joe wants the community to know that everything in the shop is on sale, and that prices are negotiable (the author witnessed a customer barter for a piece of glass during our interview).

“I don’t want to throw things into a dumpster. If someone wants something, they can make me an offer. I’ve been here so long that some of our inventory has probably turned into antiques. I’ve never had a sale in my life because my stuff’s already so cheap,” he said. “I’m retiring depending on what happens. I’ll be here at least until the end of the year.”

We’ll be in touch with the Hectors’ plans for 379 W. Glenside Avenue soon. Stay tuned.

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