TAMPA, Fla. — On Saturdays, customers — including interior designers, artists, and people just looking for unique items — head to the North Rome Avenue home of Schiller’s Architectural and Design Salvage. It’s a massive collection of antiques and more that offers a peek into the past.
Owner Larry Schiller said he’s not sentimental when it comes to the pieces he’s accumulated.
“I have no emotional attachment,” he said. “What I like is hunting this stuff, so I have to sell it or else I’d become a hoarder.”
He said it’s hard to describe how he picks what ends up on store shelves.
“I have no idea until I see it. So, I just gamble. I like it, so I hope someone else likes it,” Schiller said.
He’s been cultivating that sixth salvage sense for a while. Schiller said he started collecting at just nine years old.
“I stole from my grandfather’s building a brass plate for a push-button switch — just because I liked it. They were selling the building, it didn’t matter to them,” he said.
When he became a general contractor in the 1980s, salvaging was part of restoration work. He said his collection was modest, but he decided to turn it into a business when the recession hit in 2008.
“My mission is to sell enough to go hunting for more treasure,” Schiller said. “That’s what I like. I’ll go to Pennsylvania, Indiana — I go all over, looking for stuff.”
Shoppers can also find pieces of Tampa’s past.
“A freezer door from the Biltmore, this one is from Carmine’s restaurant: the original,” Schiller said, pointing out some of the many doors in his store.
Schiller said the collection is constantly changing. During the past year, he’s acquired about ten-thousand pieces of marine-related items, from giant clam shells, to anchors, to pieces of coral. For 15 years, customers have come in search of that perfect item. While Schiller may not feel an attachment to items, he said it does feel good to connect people with a special piece. He remembered one boy who came in with his father and bought an old milkshake mixer.
“And the kid tells me he restored it, he looked it all up, and it’s worth $1,200, and he paid, like, $50 for it. I said, ‘Good for you. Are you going to sell it?’ ‘No, no - I’m keeping it.’ So, that’s a good story,” he said.
The store is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Appointments are available for the rest of the week.