To Katie Riley and Tanner Leininger, the property at 201 E. Main St. in downtown Niles is much more than just an address.

It’s the building that brought the two together four years ago.

It’s also the place the engaged couple now calls home, living upstairs together with Riley’s 10-year-old son, Kayden Baumert.

If that weren’t enough, the building will soon contain the couple’s first business venture together: Riley’s Recycled Relics.

Scheduled to open Jan. 22 for the Hunter Ice Festival, Riley’s will feature an eclectic mix of antiques, collectibles, up-cycled items, furniture and more.

“It will be like a Spencer’s mixed with an antique shop,” said Riley, a 2001 Niles High School graduate. “It is not going to be your ma and pa’s type of antique thing. It will be fun.”

 

Small start, big dreams

The owners were busy Thursday placing items on shelves and moving things into place in time for what is more of a soft opening than a grand opening.

Riley said the front portion of the shop would be accessible with the back portion set to open in the near future.

“To start off it will be mainly antiques and collectibles but our dream is to make our own furniture — a lot of up-cycling, refurbishing,” Riley said.

“There are a lot of antique/collectible places here [in Niles],” Leininger said. “We are doing that, but something else too… we are trying to interest different groups of people, old and young. ”

Although they are starting small, the owners say their goal is to make Riley’s interactive with things like a giant Jenga tower and workshops on up-cycling — the process of transforming old or discarded materials into something new and useful.

“These are future dreams because we want to get started and see how it goes,” Riley said.

Once the shop is ready, regular store days and hours will be from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and from noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It will be closed Wednesday and Thursday.

“It will take a little while before we get the business where we want it to be,” Leininger said. “It’s starting small and we will grow as we can.”

Running the shop will be Riley’s full-time job, while Leininger said he would be there part time. His full time job is as an architect.

Check out Riley’s Recycled Relics page on Facebook for updates.

 

A special place

Riley’s mother, Kim Shelton, owns Cross the Street Collectibles on North Second Street, which is next door to Riley’s Recycled Relics.

When she was 11, Riley said she moved downtown to help her mom run the shop and live in the upstairs portion of the building.

Leininger, a 2007 Edwardsburg graduate, entered their lives when he rented the second and third floor apartment space at 201 E. Main while attending Andrew’s University in nearby Berrien Springs in 2012.

As neighbors, Leininger and Riley crossed paths and soon struck up a relationship. They became engaged in 2013.

“My mom had a lot of influence too, she really liked Tanner,” Riley said.

The building, which used to house Express Press, went up for sale and the two bought it in 2013.

While living upstairs, the two began the slow process of transforming the downstairs into Riley’s Recycled Relics over the past two-plus years.

They’ve done most of the work themselves, taking care to preserve the history of the building while creating something new at the same time.

For instance, Riley said they used the original tin ceiling tile and wood reclaimed from the building to create the outside of the counter, which is topped with concrete.

They pulled up carpet and found hardwood and decorative porcelain tile flooring that now gives the front space plenty of character.

It has taken longer than they wanted, but both say it was worth the wait.

“With me growing up here — especially downtown — I love the history,” Riley said. “I know a lot of the owners, so when I was growing up a lot of these buildings were my playground. It meant a lot for me to keep the history of the building here.”