BOYKINS—Storybook Antiques has opened in downtown Boykins.

Located at 32143 Main St., the store owned by Debbie Baugham features a variety of items, including furniture, toys, pictures, books and records. Baugham is also selling peanuts and hams, country sausage, bacon, candies and old-fashioned Cokes.

“I love the Town of Boykins, and I’ll enjoy being able to visit with the people who come in,” she said.

Most items came from auctions, but there are several — some of which are for display only — that came from family attics.

Baugham credits her family with her getting involved in the antiques business.

“We like to go around antiquing,” she said about herself and her husband, Gary. “My son works in Petersburg, and that’s how I found out about the Oak Antiques Mall. I would go to Petersburg to see my son and we would go to the Oak. That gave me the idea that I would like to have a booth there. After I did that, I thought maybe I could do well on my own.”

Baugham still has a booth at the Oak; she rented the former market and restaurant in downtown Boykins in January.

“It’s been a work in progress since then,” she said. “We’ve been painting and cleaning and trying to get our stuff together and purchasing supplies.”

Asked why she opened her business in Boykins, Baugham said she lives nearby and added that the town “needed something for revitalization.

“The Main Street Initiative told us that an antiques shop would be the number one attraction for a town,” she said. “I didn’t even realize that at the time that we were thinking about doing this.”

Local officials are pleased.

“It’s an asset to our town, and the sign they have is an asset to Main Street,” Boykins Mayor Spier Edwards said during a May 5 ribbon cutting. “We’re proud to have them and we are hoping for the best.”

Clyde Parker of Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce was also on-hand for the ribbon cutting.

“We have a lot of memberships in this area, and hope that you will choose to join our ranks,” Parker told Baugham. “Boykins is a very progressive town and this community has a lot of respect everywhere.”

Storybook Antiques is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The store’s website is storybookantiques.com, and the phone number is 654-6306.