More than a showroom

by Natalie Mechem

Porch Light carries many vintage and vintage-inspired posters at affordable prices. Other paper goods include greeting cards, postcards, and art prints.

Sunlight floods in through floor-to-ceiling windows, lighting up shelf after shelf of jewelry, glassware, and paper goods. A clothesline of art prints hangs above and old wood flooring creaks below. The scents of various handmade soaps and candles blend together into one fresh, flowery aroma. A woman scurries around the space arranging and rearranging arrays of pastel-colored tea towels and a lush variety of houseplants.

In 2010, Kate Shaw transformed this street corner building in Des Moines’ East Village into an antique shop. “It took some vision, but I knew that this spot was going to be pretty awesome,” said the Iowa native. Her sister Kieran Best opened the original Porch Light located in Portland in 2000. The two were raised by antique-loving parents and “just grew up loving old stuff,” Shaw said. While helping her sister out with Porch Light, Shaw was inspired to open her own store in Des Moines.

From the antique wooden pieces to the vibrant plants to the retro clocks on the wall, there is something in every corner to spark people’s interest.

The shop has since evolved from an antique store into a mix of old and new products. Shaw handpicks antiques from tag sales, garage sales, and flea markets, while newly produced items come from a trade show she attends in New York each year. Customers can wander through the doors of Porch Light and leave with a small candle or notebook, or they can find themselves taking home a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry or furniture. “I have a cute little painted orange side table that I will always have forever and ever that I got at Porch Light,” said Jill Tobin, a customer at Porch Light since the day it opened.

Shaw carefully arranges Porch Light in a unique way to create an inspiring experience for customers. Right inside the door, a notebook lies open on a table for visitors to leave their names and contact information. Against the back wall is an antique shelf made up of at least sixty little compartments, each housing its own unique little pot, some of which contain their own little plants. The checkout counter is a glass case of jewelry situated in the center of the shop floor, with a smiling Shaw standing behind it. In a glass bowl atop the counter swims Louie the shop fish, who helps her greet customers.

A bathtub filled with old and new items creates a unique display.

“It’s therapeutic for me,” Tobin said. “I love their displays, all their little vignettes.” One of these “little vignettes” is just to the right of the entrance: an old bathtub filled with various goods, new and old, that don’t usually go together. The bathtub, painted teal, contains patterned rugs surrounding an antique table with two tiers. The first tier displays glass bowls of wood bundles and the second is home to a leafy plant in a canvas basket. With Shaw’s thoughtful presentation, a random collection of objects becomes a charming, whimsical corner of the shop that blends old and new together.

With online shopping becoming increasingly prevalent, Shaw worries about “little independent shops” like her own. “People come into a shop and use it as a showroom to see things that they want, and then they go home and purchase them on the internet,” she said. “But I also feel like you can’t replicate the experience of coming into a store that’s been curated, the items carefully picked and displayed. I want people to come in and really enjoy just looking around.” For Shaw’s customers, going to the shop in person means a lot. “Part of the experience is just shopping. Getting a cup of coffee and wandering through the doors,” said Tobin. “Buying online will never replace that for me.”