Published: June 20, 2009 05:14 pm      

Opening a new chapter

Logansport resident opens business with her mother after life-changing experiences.

“It’s a miracle that I’m even here,” Vicki Brummett said. “I knew that God saved me for a reason.”

After experiencing two hardships during 2007, Vicki Brumett decided it was time to follow her dream. And so she did with the opening of Brummett’s Attic, an antique store, in May.

Brumett was involved in a car accident in November 2007. She was driving home from working at the State Hospital after working a double shift.

“They don’t know if I fell asleep or blacked out,” she said.

Brumett’s vehicle traveled across the center line in front of Caston High School. She was struck head on by one vehicle, spun around and was struck a second time.

After spending four months in Fort Wayne’s Parkview Hospital and another four months in a Kokomo nursing home, Brumett said her doctors didn’t think she would ever be able to walk again.

“They put my leg back together,” she said. “I had fractured ribs, shoulders, and a broken arm. The internal injuries were the most severe.”

Earlier that year, Brumett lost her husband, Terry Price, to cancer. The couple battled the cancer for six months, before he passed away.

“That really took a toll on me,” she said.

Brumett thought her days were done after the car accident, but her family helped pull her through the difficult and challenging year. She gives credit to her sons, Jason and Jeromey Brumett, and her mother, Marian Campbell, along with her sisters and grandchildren.

Letters of support and calls also helped motivate her.

After her third stomach surgery in January, Brumett knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to work. She also knew she wasn’t supposed to sit around her room. Instead, she began thinking of an alternative.

“This has been my dream to open a store,” she said. “I realized I was going to be okay. I thought, this is it, this is what I want to do.”

On April 26, Brumett established her first business with her mother. The two sold their first item on May 5.

The antique store, known as Brumett’s Attic, is made up of antiques Brumett collected over the years. She said the store is also a way of letting everyone know she survived.

Opening the business was actually something Brumett planned to do once she retired. With the state of the economy, Brumett began to question if it would ever happen. Once she saw the building on South Fifth Street, she knew it was what she was supposed to do.

Her interest in collecting began when she was 17. Brumett’s grandmother had a salt and pepper shaker collection, which she always admired. By the time she was 20, another grandmother gave her a glass piece.

“I love old pieces,” she said. “There’s such history in each one.”

She eventually had to sell her entire first collection when she was 25. It was at that point she decided she wanted to have her own antique shop one day.

Brumett began collecting items once again and built her collection up to three garages and an attic full of items.

The store offers a variety of items, including new and used furniture. It is filled with framed art, knickknacks, hats, table lamps, mirrors, glassware in several colors, antique toys, Native American items, Avon bottles, antique kitchen items, and sports collectors items. Two rooms are filled with items for sale and a third room will soon be opened.

“Anything you want, we can find,” Brumett said.

Most of the items for sale in her store were found at auction sales. She has briefly displayed each of the items in her own house.

“This is a collection of my life,” she said.

Some of the items still belong to Brumett, but she wanted to display them to share with others. One of those items includes a trunk made in Logansport on Market Street in 1834.

Brumett is willing to sell on consignment. She doesn’t charge a booth fee and once the item is sold, the owner receives a percentage of the profit.

The business is located at 306 S. Fifth St. Brumett had her heart set on a location in downtown Logansport for one specific reason.

“I remember coming to downtown Logansport when I was child. It was the place to be,” Brumett said.

Brumett knows she is taking a chance opening a business during the tough economy, but she remains excited and optimistic.

“It’s a new world to me,” she said. “I just wanted to be here. My life has changed dramatically for the good.”

• Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at (574) 732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com



New business

Name: Brumett’s Attic

Address: 306 S. Fifth St.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Phone: (574) 727-5581.

E-mail: brumettattic@Lneti.com