Sandy Klempner Takes the Fifth with Style
For some people, an interesting shop can be like the bar in Cheers, a place worthy of regular visits, where comfort and stimulation in equal measure are guaranteed, and where at least somebody knows your name. Sandy Klempler Antiques and Interiors in Canaan, NY, just west of the Massachusetts border, is that kind of place—part art gallery, part antiques store, part curiosity shop, part salon. This Friday, April 17, Sandy will launch a weekend-long 5th-anniversary celebration, offering a 30% shop-wide discount (cash or check only), free daily raffles, complimentary wine/coffee and snacks (including her famous brownies). As an added treat, her husband, Joseph Teller Klempner, a former criminal defense attorney and author of numerous crime novels, will be on hand to sign his latest, "Bronx Justice."
"I promise my customers at least 15 new items every week," says Klempner, whose natural good eye was sharpened by twenty years as director of design for Bally of Switzerland and Coach Leatherware. To live up to her pledge, she is a member of that mythic cadre, often spoken of, seldom seen, who turn up at antiques shows and flea markets with a flashlight at 5 a.m. The rewards are clear: on a recent visit, the artist Roberto Juarez, a regular, dropped by, looking for something to take to a party the next day. As he mulled a bouquet of glass flowers, another customer modeled a red-wool-with-gold-braid-Sergaent-Pepper-style jacket that looked as if it had just stepped off the runway at Balmain. Everyone had an opinion on both and wasn't shy about expressing it.
"I search for one-of-a-kind, colorful, interesting things that can be repurposed," says Klempner. She also looks for good value; with lots of great stuff for under $100. So it's that rare antiques shop where an impulse purchase is still possible. Sandy also knows what looks good with what and where, and offers a full range of interior design services, from doing an entire house top to bottom to keeping an eye out for one thing you need.
If this sounds pleasanter than nursing a stiff one, while listening to some know-nothing guy like Cliff pontificate, then maybe I'll run into you at Sandy's this weekend.
Sandy Klempner Antiques & Interiors
2188 Route 295, Canaan, NY; 518.781.3456 (shop); 518.322.1894 (cell)
April 17, 18, & 19; 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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