Interest In Antiques Leads To Bristol Business

Canal’s End Antiques in Bristol Borough has pitched itself on appeals to local history in the months following the store’s April grand opening, giving the store what its owner hopes is a stand-out position among the town’s cluster of antique shops.

Susan Rachlin, the store’s owner, said that she went into the business because she has spent her lifetime interested in antiques.

“I always go to garden markets and yard sales. After a while, I started selling out of another store as a vendor, then had enough to open my own store.”

Located at 327 Mill Street, the store attracts buyers of multiple ages and interests.

“A lot of people who collect military items come here. Records are becoming big right now, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Elvis are very popular,” Rachlin said. “And unusual things. The more unusual the better. They like old, wooden, real sturdy furniture and old toys. For a lot of people, it’s what they remember their grandmother having.”

A glance at the store’s Facebook page shows references to the history of Native Americans in the area that became Route 13, the old Langhorne Speedway, and fairs held in the town during the 1700s that were shut down for “debauchery, idleness and drunkenness.”

The store’s name, Canal’s End, refers to Bristol’s status as the town at the end of the Delaware Canal, which was used for commerce before the spread of efficient train and truck deliveries in the mid-20th century and at one time stretched up past the Lehigh Valley to New York City.

Asked where she gained her knowledge of Bucks County history, Rachlin responded, “I grew up in North East Philadelphia, but I’ve been in Bristol for 20 years. I visit old buildings and historic sites, I’m a photographer as well. Anywhere I can learn something, I do, I keep a file of the little things I’ve learned. I also check online.”

As for the items in stock, “some of the things I know a lot about, I have a personal interest in tools, antiques cars and records that I’ve researched. Some things when they come in, I try to learn.”

These include some items related to Bristol’s past. Currently, the shop is on the hunt for authentic hunting duck decoys mimicking the patterns of local birds.
The store is relatively restrictive with its selections, considering only items from the 1970s or earlier as real antiques and collectibles.

Canal’s End opened on Feb. 1, but had its official grand opening in the spring.

Business has picked up since February, with nicer weather generating more customers than the grand opening celebrations themselves, according to Rachlin.

“Thousands of people came to the first Friday. We’re hoping the warmer the weather, the more people will show up. We’re definitely still growing. A lot of people don’t know about it.”

“We have our locals and a few regulars who come in. People from vacation come into Bucks County and go from antiques store to antiques store. I had one person from Michigan who saw our Facebook page and called her daughter around here and told her to pick something up.”

Rachlin has considered expanding her business.

“I’d like to be much larger and have an area in the store where we could have auctions, appraisals and history lessons,” she said. “We do work with appraisers and even historians.”