Rest in Pieces owners Justin Torone and Alaina Gearhart outside their store at 349 S. Laurel St. They purchased the building for $675,000. (Photos courtesy of Rest in Pieces)
An Oregon Hill oddities shop can now say it has its own permanent digs.
The owners of Rest in Pieces, which sells taxidermy specimens, animal skulls, framed insects and crystals among other curiosities, purchased the store’s location at 349 S. Laurel St.
Justin Torone and Alaina Gearhart paid $675,000 to buy the building from their landlord Nolen Blackwood in a deal that was recorded with the city in mid-March, according to online property records.
Torone said becoming their own landlord helps ensure the store’s future in its current home.
“Our reasoning behind it is we have just seen the way the world is and how businesses can get pushed out of their space when the landlord sells the building and the rent goes up,” Torone said.
“Our building has become an iconic image in Richmond. People know the building and they associate it with us and to lose something like that can be devastating for a niche business like us.”
The two-story, 3,500-square-foot property was most recently valued at $396,000.
The couple opened the original Rest in Pieces store in 2015 at 1 S. Stafford Ave., and later moved to its current location in 2017. The store has eight employees.
Rest in Pieces sells animal skulls, framed insects and crystals among other items. The store also sells and displays taxidermied specimens.
Torone said Blackwood called him in late 2020 and pitched the idea of selling the property, saying he was thinking about getting rid of the property and was wondering if Rest in Pieces was interested in a deal.
Another motivation was the prospective headache of moving the shop’s eclectic and voluminous collection (Torone admitted he couldn’t say for sure how many items they have on hand).
“We just can’t pack up and leave. Moving in here was a feat I don’t think I could do a second time,” he said.
Now with the building in hand, they have some ideas for changes at the property. The plan, though it is in its early stages, is to convert the upstairs apartment into a museum in the next five to 10 years for the store’s display items, which will free up space downstairs to accommodate for-sale pieces.
Reflecting on the shop’s navigation of the pandemic, Torone said one of the biggest challenges has been customers upset over the store’s mask mandate, which it continues to enforce after the end of government mandates to do so. While it was worse earlier in the pandemic, it is occasionally still a challenge.
“It was like this constant state of uncomfortableness. It got difficult seeing my staff deal with that day after day,” he said. “I’m hesitant to lift our mask rule just because I remember last summer going two weeks without masks and then the new variant hit.”
Like many other businesses, the store has also had some supply issues during the pandemic. A particularly challenging one was when, earlier in the pandemic, rubbing alcohol was difficult to find. It’s needed to maintain the preservation of jarred wet specimens.
“The supply chain issue hit us with the strangest stuff we didn’t expect to be hit with,” Torone said. “For a while, there was no rubbing alcohol because everyone was buying it to make hand sanitizer.”
Rest in Pieces owners Justin Torone and Alaina Gearhart outside their store at 349 S. Laurel St. They purchased the building for $675,000. (Photos courtesy of Rest in Pieces)
An Oregon Hill oddities shop can now say it has its own permanent digs.
The owners of Rest in Pieces, which sells taxidermy specimens, animal skulls, framed insects and crystals among other curiosities, purchased the store’s location at 349 S. Laurel St.
Justin Torone and Alaina Gearhart paid $675,000 to buy the building from their landlord Nolen Blackwood in a deal that was recorded with the city in mid-March, according to online property records.
Torone said becoming their own landlord helps ensure the store’s future in its current home.
“Our reasoning behind it is we have just seen the way the world is and how businesses can get pushed out of their space when the landlord sells the building and the rent goes up,” Torone said.
“Our building has become an iconic image in Richmond. People know the building and they associate it with us and to lose something like that can be devastating for a niche business like us.”
The two-story, 3,500-square-foot property was most recently valued at $396,000.
The couple opened the original Rest in Pieces store in 2015 at 1 S. Stafford Ave., and later moved to its current location in 2017. The store has eight employees.
Rest in Pieces sells animal skulls, framed insects and crystals among other items. The store also sells and displays taxidermied specimens.
Torone said Blackwood called him in late 2020 and pitched the idea of selling the property, saying he was thinking about getting rid of the property and was wondering if Rest in Pieces was interested in a deal.
Another motivation was the prospective headache of moving the shop’s eclectic and voluminous collection (Torone admitted he couldn’t say for sure how many items they have on hand).
“We just can’t pack up and leave. Moving in here was a feat I don’t think I could do a second time,” he said.
Now with the building in hand, they have some ideas for changes at the property. The plan, though it is in its early stages, is to convert the upstairs apartment into a museum in the next five to 10 years for the store’s display items, which will free up space downstairs to accommodate for-sale pieces.
Reflecting on the shop’s navigation of the pandemic, Torone said one of the biggest challenges has been customers upset over the store’s mask mandate, which it continues to enforce after the end of government mandates to do so. While it was worse earlier in the pandemic, it is occasionally still a challenge.
“It was like this constant state of uncomfortableness. It got difficult seeing my staff deal with that day after day,” he said. “I’m hesitant to lift our mask rule just because I remember last summer going two weeks without masks and then the new variant hit.”
Like many other businesses, the store has also had some supply issues during the pandemic. A particularly challenging one was when, earlier in the pandemic, rubbing alcohol was difficult to find. It’s needed to maintain the preservation of jarred wet specimens.
“The supply chain issue hit us with the strangest stuff we didn’t expect to be hit with,” Torone said. “For a while, there was no rubbing alcohol because everyone was buying it to make hand sanitizer.”
This rules, congrats!
I wish them well but seriously, who buys this stuff??
I’ve seen every walk of life, young and old, waiting in line every day to go inside as I drive by. It fits in well with eclectic nature of Oregon Hill. Love our neighborhood.