From Junk to Jewels

By Laura Duclos

The store offers free painting classes.

College is an ideal time to explore your personal style – and one way to discover your taste is by adding some flair to your living space.

However, personal expression comes with a price tag. Those with big dreams and small budgets may need to become a little creative to achieve their #stylegoals.

Gypsy Aged Junk, a unique thrift and antique store at 602 N. County Road 179 in Lubbock, provides those who are looking to redecorate, refurbish or simply discover unusual items with a refuge to be their own creative selves.

Jennifer Taylor, owner of Gypsy Aged Junk, said she has a passion for re-purposing old items and making them like new again.

“I love color,” Taylor said. “I think it makes people happy, and that’s what I like to do.”

Taylor has many hopes for the store, which opened in February 2016.

“We will be a trade show one day.” Taylor said. “We have 60 acres to utilize for a trade show, a farmer’s market, things like that—hopefully in the near future.”

Until then, the store offers a multitude of services, including free classes in painting, lettering and meditation, to name a few.

“Anything design, fun, colorful or re-purposed, we do,” Taylor said. “We are recently adding things like meditation. So, we’re on more of a wellness route, and that’s really new to what we’ve been doing.”

Lacey Mills, manager of Gypsy Aged Junk, said the staff works to help people who have little.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard somebody who says they’ve lost all their belongings in a home fire,” Mills said. “This is a place they are able to get everything, from their beds to their couches to kitchenware, whatever they need. It’s completely based on a giving kind of vibe.”

Gipsy Aged is located about half a mile north from Cagle Steakhouse, just northwest of Lubbock.

Lois Sanders, who was a first-time visitor to Gypsy Aged Junk, said she stopped after seeing the store on the side of the road and was excited to discover the various trinkets laid outside of the building.

“It’s got lots of old, cool stuff,” Sanders said. “I just saw the junk and stopped. I was like ‘Yay! New place!’”

Sanders said she intends to come back to see all the store has to offer.

“It’s overwhelming,” she added.” You’d probably have to come back several times. But just walking around, there are lots of neat things. I’ll be back.”

Sanders is just one of the many customers who discover the rainbow-colored business, whose name holds a personal meaning to Taylor.

“This is my 32^nd place to live since 1997,” said Taylor. “I wander a lot. I move around a lot. I like to change things. That’s where the ‘Gypsy’ came from. For ‘Aged’ it’s really the old, the antique, the aged items that we have.”