Antiques store features art and eclectics

The owners of a new antiques store are continuing a family tradition of operating businesses in downtown Camas.

Tony Sampson, his wife Debra and their daughter Belle Mathieu, have been busy preparing to open A Twist on Time. A soft opening is planned for Friday.

A grand opening, set for Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will include complimentary refreshments. Also, the first 50 customers will receive a gift with purchase.

Tony Sampson’s family tree includes his great-uncle John Cowan, owner of a cigar shop in the 1920s; a great-grandfather Thomas Sanford Sampson, who owned a shoe store during that same decade; a grandfather Bill Sampson, a former Camas mayor and city council member in the 1960s who worked at the paper mill; and a grandmother Martha Rogers, who managed the Sears catalog store more than 30 years ago.

Tony, 53, is a lifelong resident of Camas. He has worked at the paper mill for 27 years, along with several of his relatives.

A Twist on Time features antiques, art and eclectics. Mathieu defines eclectics as “odd finds and unusual items,” such as World War II memorabilia, tools and handmade furniture.

In addition to designing and building a pie “safe” (cabinet), Tony Sampson has created bookcases, display cases and shelves out of barn wood. He has fashioned shelves from a gate of an older house in Washougal. A barn door also figures prominently in the creation of one of the display cases available for purchase at A Twist on Time.

“You can recycle older items to be used in a modern home,” Mathieu said. “Anyone can use antiques to fit their style.”

The shop sells old and new items. Among the new are Archipelago Botanicals candles, purses, wallets, business card holders, greeting cards and bath and body products.

Other items available for purchase include an antique wood stove, wood and whale bone fishing lures, Japanese, American and French bayonets from World War II, a Tennessee tobacco leaf chopper and various soda crates. There are also vintage toy trucks, teddy bears, railroad lanterns, a sea trunk, fire hose nozzles, assorted buttons, handkerchiefs from the 1930s and milk jugs from Johnston’s Drive-in Dairy in Camas.

Debra Sampson has created miniature items such as hams, pies, cakes, cookies and books – for use in doll houses.

She is a former owner of a residential and business cleaning service and an antique collector for many years.

“We had rented a space in Camas Antiques for two to three years, and we had a lot of fun doing that,” she said. “We decided to spread our wings and do something I’ve always wanted to do and love.”

Mathieu is a 2000 Camas High School graduate and a former national sales manager for CA Botana International – a company that specializes in botanical-based skin care products.

“They know antiques, and I know business management,” she said. “It is a good partnership.”

All three owners appreciate their shop’s location.

“I think downtown Camas is precious,” Debra Sampson said. “I think it’s going to get more active as more shops open up. It is quaint. People are asking for more antiques stores in this area.

“The more businesses that are here, the more shoppers we’ll have,” she added.

Her husband agreed.

“It is a neat town,” he said. “There is a lot of opportunity for a business like this.

“Being next door to Natalia’s Cafe is a good opportunity to share customers and bring business to each other,” he added.

A Twist On Time, 431 N.E. Fourth Ave., will be open Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Consignments are available.

For more information, call 200-5525, e-mail antiques@atwistontime.com or visit www.atwistontime.com.