Hi everyone,
It's been a busy year here - In addition to selling great vintage models to collectors around the world (including the UK, Germany, Russia, Finland, and Australia!), we've been working quietly behind the scenes to open our first physical store location!
If you're in Maine, NH, or other points close by, we invite you to visit Triple Mountain in Hiram, Maine. Located on State Rt. 113 in the western Maine mountains, you can now purchase new models and horsey gifts or pick up your vintage model orders right at our store.
We currently have nearly the entire CollectA horse line in stock, as well as Hagen-Renaker clinkies, horse t-shirts made by The Mountain, horse jewelry and lots of other fun things!
Coming soon will be Laurel Burch colorful horse-themed handbags and new Breyer! That's right, we're now officially a Breyer dealer, so in addition to great vintage models, you'll be able to order models fresh from the factory. Our first Breyer shipment should arrive sometime this week. We intend to be a flagship store, so we should be able to order the special flagship models. (I've just seen a sneak peek of the 2016 flagship model, and he's awesome! ...That's all I'm allowed to say about that.)
Like everything we do at Triple Mountain, our new store reflects what we believe in: Living responsibly in the world, caring for our Triple Mountain, and preserving area history...
Our store is powered by solar energy, as is our home. Care was taken to disturb as little of the mountain as possible when setting up our store, and instead of using resources to build from the ground up, we moved and remodeled an existing building.
The building itself has a history in this area - In fact, it's locally famous! Originally built as a camp by three brothers, it used to sit deep in the woods of the Triple Mountain and hosted weekly poker parties that are still talked about today, twenty years after they ended. When we moved to the mountain, we lived in the camp ourselves for four months while we built our home. Afterward, it sat empty for many years.
We thank Breyer / Reeves for motivating us to save this local landmark. Their requirement that we have a physical store in order to purchase new Breyer items gave us the idea to rescue the building and turn it into our first store. It took six months of labor, most of which was done by Roy, myself, my parents, and friends, to move the building to its new location and completely remodel it. We think the results were worth the effort!
Here are some memorable moments from the renovation:
The building before we moved it. It took us almost two months to widen the road so we could move it to its new home.
I was so happy when we were finally ready to move the building that I paused to cheer before we fired up the bulldozer. Like my patriotic slacks? They seemed fitting somehow.
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes! 
It was a hair-raising trip down the mountain that took nearly three hours to go the half mile distance.
The two giant pines behind our backhoe in the picture below were known as the Guardian Trees. They guarded the road up to the camp. Sadly, the space between them was too narrow to move the camp out through, but there's a happy ending...
When we realized we'd have to cut them, we decided to mill their wood into shelves to use in the building they guarded for so long. Breyer will now sit on shelves made from the Guardian Trees.
There was time for a little fun... My mom and her friend take a break to ride on the Bobcat.
With new siding, new windows and doors, and fresh paint, the building is looking sharp again! We've had locals ask if that's really the camp they used to visit. Word is spreading fast, and folks seem pleased to see that it's been given a new life. We're even more pleased - It will be great to meet some of our customers in person and introduce collecting to young folks.
Our store is located at 14 Nature's Way in Hiram, Maine. It will open on 12/19 and will be open only on Saturdays 10am - 3pm, and by appointment for now, while we focus on the busy shipping season, but with expanded hours planned to begin in the summer of 2016.
If you're going to be in the area, we hope to see you! And don't forget to visit us for new Breyer models now as well as vintage ones!