Ann Nappier has been collecting stuff since she was seven-years-old. Over the years, her intrinsic compulsion to amass a personal fortune of furniture, knick-knacks, trinkets, and other collectibles from decades long past has resulted in a home steeped in history, but with room for little else.
Last month, while working at First Coast Title Services, Inc. on East Forsyth Street, she spied an empty space at 110 E. Forsyth St. She talked to the owner, negotiated a rental deal, packed the space full of vintage items and threw open the door as Renaissance Relics.
“This is my hobby,” said Nappier. “It became such a big hobby that I needed a place to rotate things in and out. I have no other place for it.”
Nappier’s husband, Ray, operated Renaissance Trim in Riverside since 1995 and worked as a commercial carpenter until he was diagnosed with leukemia in February. Renaissance Trim closed and Ann took a job at First Coast Title Services to help keep up with the bills.
The Nappier family business was resurrected as Renaissance Relics. She bid First Coast Title Services adieu and ventured into the tenuous trade of time-honored wares. While many Jacksonville antique shops have formed a safe collectibles cluster in Riverside and Avondale, Nappier went the nontraditional route by hanging a shingle downtown.
“Well, if we were all alike, the world would be flat,” she said. “I was kind of mulling it over in my head and looking at Riverside. I was interested in Riverside, but there was not a lot available. I was waiting in the rain one day for my husband to pick me up from work and I saw this empty store. It’s growing here [downtown]. We have condos going up and the Adam’s Mark. I want to get my foot in the door while it’s still easy to.”
To keep her shop stocked with vintage vendibles, Nappier scours estate sales, shops the Internet and has contacts in other states and countries. As a result, Renaissance Relics has a distinctive style to its inventory — not too old and not too new. There are no stuffy Victorian-era chairs to be seen nor can one find the complete collection of Captain and Tenile on 8-track. More likely to be seen are selections from her collection of Vargas pin-up girls from the 1940s through the 1960s.
“It’s retro, deco, eclectic and beyond,” describes Nappier. “Anything from the 1940s, 1950s and on.”
To shed some light on some of her personal favorites, Nappier described her lamp collection. “Lamps are my thing. I have the largest selection of 1950s-style lamps in Jacksonville,” she boasted.
Renaissance Relics is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m.