A mix of treasures, vintage finds, one-of-a-kind pieces

Rich Palzewic

Staff

January 5, 2026

MARSHFIELD – Inspired by its 137-year-old porcelain doll namesake, Annabelle’s Attic has taken up residence at 405 S. Central Ave. in Marshfield.

Owner Rick Eckart said Annabelle’s Attic is a resale/consignment store with a unique mix of treasures, vintage finds and one-of-a-kind pieces.

Eckart said “Annabelle” – the doll behind the shop’s name – has been in the family for multiple generations.

At nearly 140 years old, Eckart said the shop’s Annabelle predates the horror film franchise that used the same name.

“She was passed down from one of my great aunts to another great aunt, then to my aunt and then eventually, I became her ‘caretaker,’” he said.

Eckart said his great-aunt – the original owner of Annabelle – acquired her in 1888 before dying at a young age.

“When she passed Annabelle on, she told her sister not to let the doll ever leave the family, or bad things would happen,” he said. “Silly me, I ignored the warning and put Annabelle up in our very first estate sale.”

After some unusual events, Eckart said he decided it wasn’t worth tempting fate and removed the doll from the sale.

“My son is completely creeped out by her, so we can’t keep her in the house anymore,” he said. “As we were going through this whole consignment store idea, the name was originally going to be ‘Hub City Consignments,’ but I got some grief over the name because it sounded too generic.” 

Eckart said Marshfield’s nickname is “The Hub City,” because it was a major railroad hub in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

Eckart said they ruled out using “Hub City” because too many local businesses already used the name.

So, to ease his son’s discomfort with Annabelle – and to move the doll out of the house – he said they chose to name the shop after her and make her the focal point.

“She’s on full display, along with her pet tortoise, in the shop for everyone to see,” he said. “She’s got a little damage above her left eye, so we’ll have to send her to the doll hospital to get fixed up. She came with her own custom-made case, made by my great-grandfather. We treat her like she’s one of the family – she’s part of history.”

Not your average thrift shop

Following a soft opening in late October – which allowed time for adjustments – Eckart said Annabelle’s Attic marked its official opening with a mid-November ribbon-cutting. 

“The [soft opening] gave us a solid three weeks for the team to get adjusted, get into a routine and tweak anything we needed to tweak,” he said. “Besides me, we have five part-time employees, plus a part-time carpenter who helps with our displays and repairing broken items.”

Eckart said Annabelle’s Attic – which is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday – is not intended to be an antique shop.

“Having said that, we carry quite a few antiques, especially rural antiques given where we are,” he said. “I have another business – Cowboy’s Estate Sales – where we take in whatever is left from estate sales. We then have Annabelle’s Attic to sell those items.”

Accepting consignment items from the general public, Eckart said, is also a part of the business.

“We also purchase from estates,” he said. “We have antiques, collectibles, toys, games, artwork and household items. You can buy everything from an 18th-century pair of Scottish custard cups to an air fryer.”

Eckart said Annabelle’s Attic does not accept donated items, as it operates as a for-profit business rather than a charity.

“I would not feel good just having people come and donate their stuff,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Take it to St. Vinnie’s or the local women’s shelter.’”

Though Annabelle’s Attic does not accept typical used clothing, Eckart said vintage or collectible apparel may be considered.

Eckart said his goal is for Annabelle’s Attic to stand apart from a traditional resale store.

“I think when you hear the word ‘resale,’ many people might associate that with a thrift store – we’re not a thrift store,” he said. “Secondly, we don’t accept used goods – you won’t find a $5 pair of shoes in our store. We want to be clean, well organized, offer quality products, top-level service and do it at a fair price.”

One notable item in the shop, Eckart said, is a 1918 Roadster produced by Ertl in the 1950s, with “Dairy Queen” painted on the side.

“Ertl was a company famous from the 1940s through the 1970s for its die-cast vehicles and banks,” he said. “There would be reproductions of plastic vehicles, all done in die cast, all meticulously detailed, with working doors, working hoods and the whole nine yards.”

Eckart said the Dairy Queen Roadster comes complete with the key.

“It was purchased sometime back in the 1950s and never opened,” he said. “The only time it was ever out of the box was when I took a picture of it.”

The 1918 Ertl Roadster, Eckart said, is just one example of what you might find at Annabelle’s Attic.

A young start

Eckart said he started his first business at 19 and has never lost his entrepreneurial drive, often juggling multiple projects even while working for someone else.

“I always had a business of some sort going on, but I recently retired after owning a remodeling business for 25 years,” he said. “I have been a collector my entire life and was fortunate enough to get connected with one of the best estate sale companies in the Milwaukee area and work part-time for them and learn that side of the business.”

Eckart said selling at flea markets for more than 30 years also gave him hands-on experience and knowledge.

“When we were cleaning up my aunt’s estate, I noticed a severe need for a different type of estate sale company,” he said. “We decided we were going to open a new estate sale company that did things a little differently than the ones currently in place here in Central Wisconsin.”

That difference, Eckart said, was offering a physical location to sell items after an estate sale has ended.

“Nobody else does that around here,” he said. “It was originally going to be the estate sale company (Cowboy’s Estate Sales) and the consignment store tied hand in hand, but I had my eyes on a particular space and knew what we wanted for the consignment store.”

Originally planning a spring opening, Eckart said he moved up the timeline when the perfect Marshfield location became available at an irresistible price.

“We decided to open the store before the estate sale company really got going,” he said. “We did one estate sale [through Cowboy’s Estate Sales] before the weather got bad, but we are planning a full ramp-up in March or April.”

Eckart said if the first few weeks are any indication, the Marshfield community is excited for what’s to come at Annabelle’s Attic.

“We are receiving a tremendous response from the community and a lot of support,” he said. “Of course, as a new business, you always want sales to be better, but when you are starting, things will start a little slower than you might anticipate.”

With a print marketing campaign that reaches more than 100,000 homes each week, Eckart said Annabelle’s Attic draws customers from surrounding towns, including Rhinelander, Merrill, Wausau and Mosinee.

“We recently started our online marketing campaign, and we are gaining followers,” he said. “Even though we’re Marshfield-based and love the idea of being a local, family-owned company, we market all over the state of Wisconsin.”

For more information on Annabelle’s Attic, find it on Facebook.