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December 15, 2025
WITTENBERG – Eileen Weller has a new home for her antiques – and she said business is already booming.
Her store, now called Wishing Well Vintage, opened last month at 505 S. Webb St. in Wittenberg and Weller said customers from her previous shop – Shops on Grand – turned out in full force, filling the store on opening weekend.
“We opened Nov. 1,” she said. “That was a Saturday, and we were busy right away.”
Though running an antique store in the 1917 Amoco garage had many perks, and she never planned to relocate, Weller said fate had other plans for her and the shop.
In January of this year, Weller said a customer stopped by the Grand Avenue shop and asked if she would sell the business and her home.
“One day … a guy came in with his girlfriend and said, ‘This place would be perfect for what I want to do. Would I consider selling?’” she said. “I told him, ‘Well, you know, anything is for sale for the right price.’”
A few weeks later, Weller said she and the customer agreed on a price, and the sale was finalized in June.
She said she rented the building from the new owner through the end of August and moved out in September.
Weller said her new location became available Oct. 1, and after a brief delay to allow the previous tenant to move out, she was up and running by November.
Because the building had already functioned as a retail store, she said no significant changes were needed, just settling her vendors into the new space.
At 2,000 square feet, Weller said the new location is a bit smaller than her previous 2,500-square-foot space, so she scaled back her vendors from around 30 to 15.
Nonetheless, she said the store still offers a wide range of unique and special items for customers to choose from.
Weller also said the smaller scale has its advantages, as does renting instead of owning.
“I’m happy to not have the maintenance of the building,” she said. “Now [when] there’s a problem, I just call my landlord.”
Weller said she also loves the huge windows and open layout the new shop offers.
Community ties and antique shops
Weller said she appreciates how the shop is now located in a lively downtown area, close to businesses like the Old Dime consignment shop across the street, hair and barber shops, hardware stores, a bank and local taverns.
Though she is originally from Fond du Lac, Weller said her husband was from Wittenberg, so she moved to be with him when they married.
After earning a marketing degree from North Central Technical College in Wausau, Weller said she became actively involved in Wittenberg’s business community through her church and the local chamber of commerce.
She said her roots in the town run deep, as her husband’s family owned a restaurant there for 30 years.
Weller said her interest in antiques began after visiting one of her sisters in Appleton, who had a booth in an antique shop there.
After learning she was losing her job at the University of Wisconsin-Wausau, where she had worked for more than 20 years, Weller said she decided to explore her growing interest in antiques.
“I thought, ‘I could do that – I could find a spot to sell stuff,’” she said. “And then I thought, ‘I have a building.’ It was sitting empty. So, I talked to my husband, and he said, ‘absolutely.’ And we started fixing her up.”
Though the first shop required plenty of cleaning, Weller said the old Amoco building quickly became a perfect location for her antiques.
“It was wide open, so I didn’t have to work around walls,” she said. “One of my sisters and her husband came – he’s a carpenter, so they helped with structural stuff to make it look more like a store.”
Weller said her family provided significant help with the remodeling of the original store, and her sister, Joanne, who eventually had a booth there, continues as a vendor at Wishing Well Vintage on S. Webb Street.
Choosing which vendors would join her at the new store was a challenge, she said, because “they’re all really good people.”
Ultimately, Weller said she chose vendors based on ensuring the new shop offered a wide variety of high-quality and diverse items.
“You have to keep people interested,” she said.
Even though her vendor spots are full for now, Weller said there might be plans to partner and/or expand in the future.
“[In every business], there is always room for growth,” she said.
Weller said the store features a variety of merchandise, spanning rustic decor to china, with vendors also maintaining wish lists for customers.
Even if a particular item isn’t on display, Weller said vendors often have it in stock.
“If you are looking for something specific,” she said, “tell our vendors.”
Wishing Well Vintage is now open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
To learn more, visit Wishing Well Vintage’s Facebook page.
