Afterlife Antiques & Curiosities branches out into its own store

ASHEBORO — What does a vinyl record album have to do with a wicker transport casket? Both are part of the collection at Afterlife Antiques & Curiosities.

The business opened July 3 at 325-B Sunset Ave., Asheboro, by David and Susan Kellough. 

The store may appear small from the outside but there are four or five rooms off the main space, for a total of about 2,100 square feet.

“Everything is ours right now,” said David, who explained that they have considered offering consignment items. But the building is pretty much full already.

“We like to collect, especially medical antiques,” Susan said. “We don’t like to throw stuff away. Old things are history.”

David said they had booths at both Collectors Antique Mall and Antiques and Geeks, but they needed more room. “So we brought our stuff over here. It was time to venture out and support our habit.”

The Kelloughs are from central Ohio but moved to North Carolina 15 years ago. They live in Moore County. Susan works as 

an EMT trainer and supervisor in Wake County. David now spends all his time at Afterlife.

The “antiques” part of the name is easy to understand, but “curiosities”? Susan answered by showing the wicker casket from the 1800s. She said undertakers would use it to transport a body back to the funeral home. The interior of the casket appears to be well used.

The casket is elevated and has a curtain from the 1930s or ’40s as a back-drop. The cubicle also contains an old doctor’s medical bag, a Civil War cooling table (where bodies of soldiers were kept cool) and a Civil War bone saw. Keeping with that theme, David said they also have a collection of letters from serial killers, a painting by John Wayne Gacy (The Clown) and an original newspaper telling of the capture of Ted Bundy.

But there’s much more than death and crime at Afterlife. Just inside the front door is an antique counter from a general store in Charleston, SC, and a 1960s-era Royal Crown Cola drink machine, complete with cold beverages (but you have to pay at the counter since the coin slot just takes a quarter).

One room has a general store feel, with old calendars, ancient drink signs and clocks, tools that granddad once used, and utensils and canisters from grandma’s kitchen.

There’s an old game room with a collection that includes Chinese Checkers and books for all ages. And you can check out more spaces with 8-tracks, cassette tapes and even vinyl record albums.

A room at the rear was once a bank vault, with the thick door still available to protect what’s inside. Next to the vault is a news stand for the ages, including a Life Magazine issue from 1970 featuring Jim Lovell of the ill-fated Apollo 13. Going back even further is an entertainment journal with Marlene Dietrich on the cover.

With More Fun Comics next door, David called their location “a good trade off, to get people on this side of the street.”

Susan talked about what they hope Afterlife will create for Asheboro: “We want to become a community staple. When people are looking for something retro or an oddity, we want them to think about us. We support local business, especially downtown.”

David summed up what antiques mean to him: “It was a time before computers. It’s why we like things from the past so much.”

Afterlife Antiques & Curiosities is open Tuesday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The store is closed on Sunday and Monday.