Community Highlights: Meet Stephanie and Joe Hunt of Copper Carriage

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie and Joe Hunt.

Hi Stephanie and Joe, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
My husband Joe and I first started collecting antiques for our home in 2017. That quickly, yet organically, turned into selling on eBay and then having a booth at a local antique mall. Within a couple months, we had expanded to 2 spaces at that mall and had started popping up at local shows. As a team, we felt like we were able to bring something more to our setups than just selling antiques and vintage items. With Joe’s eye for detail and his passion for refurbishing pieces meticulously (background in aerospace toolmaking) and my eye for curating beautiful displays and background in sales, it was a win-win. We aren’t afraid to roll up our sleeves and do that hard work and go into the dark and dirty (sometimes even hoarded) situations. This was also about the time our Instagram page, Copper Carriage, took off. In October of 2019, we got the opportunity to open our own 1,00sq ft brick and mortar in Eries Little Italy neighborhood. Then Covid happened and put it all on pause. We officially opened our doors in November 2020, and it was a great success. After about a year, we found a need in our community for an antique/artisan Market and so we decided to start organizing those. We found it was also a way to give back to a community of other small business owners and makers as well. We have found so much joy in giving back in this way. We are currently expanding our business and moving our store to downtown Erie. We feel like now is the perfect time to make the move, as Erie is in a real renaissance/rebuild period in the downtown area. We feel like being genuine, transparent, and offering well-built/refurbished items with/for our customers and online followers really goes a long way. In 2022, we even got the opportunity to film a pilot episode for a Magnolia show based around our business and the city of Erie. And even though our show did not get picked up we feel like we still have lots to accomplish and only see great things on the horizon for our business. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road at times since we went from being antique collectors to antique business owners. We have run into different obstacles along the way here and there. One of the biggest struggles in our business, as with anyone that owns their own business, is turning it off. When your hobby becomes your business, and it’s something you are passionate about, it can be trying at times to step back and take a break. And the number one question we get all the time is, how do you not keep it all? So, I’d say that’s for sure a struggle at times. 

As you know, we’re big fans of Copper Carriage. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
So, as we move Copper Carriage to a more visible downtown location, we are doing some rebranding. We are growing from just being an antique shop to also include more home goods and hope to be known as a store that offers anything for a curated home. We want you to feel like walking into our store is like walking into our home; only everything is for sale. I always loved when people would walk into our old store and say, ‘oh it’s not like a regular antique store, you don’t just have stuff on shelves.’ I love creating vignettes that allow our customers to look at the pieces in our store and envision using it in their home. We offer everything from DIY pieces all the way through creating custom furniture for our customers. We have pieces dating back to the 1700s and as new as MCM. We like to not just sell what we like but what we think others will like. We have also expanded to offer design consultations and services now as well. We are especially passionate about saving those pieces that others might overlook or say are too far gone. We aren’t afraid to roll up our sleeves and put in the extra elbow grease. I think we are most proud of the community of fellow makers/small business owners and the following, both in person and online, that we have created. 

What was your favorite childhood memory?
One of my favorite childhood memories was growing up on a farm in Southeastern Indiana and watching my grandmother curate a home. Watching and helping her make meals. We loved watching the Martha Stewart Show and clipping recipes from magazines. I always loved pretending I was on a cooking show while I was tasked with making the biscuits. For Joe, his favorite memory was going to a friend’s house whose parents had a love of antiques. He remembers how fun their house always was to explore and learn about their collections. 

Contact Info:

• Website: coppercarriage.com
• Instagram: Coppercarriage/Instagram.com
• Facebook: Coppercarriage/facebook.com
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@coppercarriage