photo by: Joselyn King

Robert Strong, co-owner of the SMART Center in downtown Wheeling, wears a pair of late 1960s Polaroid sunglasses while showing off an unopened old bottle of shoe polish. Both items are among those for sale as Strong and his wife Libby sell off vintage items found in their building after they purchased the former Goodwin Drug Company warehouse at 1410 Main St.

Anyone collecting old banjo strings, vintage sunglasses from the late 1960s or long forgotten shaving products from the 1970s will find them at a discount rate this week at the SMART Center in downtown Wheeling.

Common drug stores items dating back to the 1920s through the 1990s are for sale as new old stock at the SMART Center, and will be marked down on sale this Saturday.

The store is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The SMART Center is located at 1410 Main St., and is known for its focus on science learning. But the history of the building and items once sold there can be witnessed through the decades-old cans of baby powder, bicarbonate soda and shoe polish left on its shelves. The items are on display and for sale at the SMART Center.

The Goodwin Drug Company moved into its former warehouse at 1410 Main St. in 1921, and remained there for nearly a century before closing in 2017. The company was the largest wholesale drug firm in West Virginia at its height, and sold items to drug stores in the Ohio Valley and throughout northern West Virginia.

When Robert and Libby Strong bought the warehouse building in 2022 for use as the SMART Center, the purchase agreement stated the four-story structure came with all its contents.

They found the building contained many “time capsule-like hidden treasures” that are new old stock items. They had been stored on shelves, left in boxes or just left covered up for decades.

“They just put this stuff high up on a shelf and figured somebody is going to buy the rest of this box, or that they’re going to buy the other box,” Strong said.

“It just kept getting moved up higher and higher until it got covered up. And 80 years later, we buy the building.”

Bottles of old red shoe polish and nail polish in the shop come in bottles that look like art in themselves.

There are many beauty and haircare products available, and many are of the Hazel Bishop brand.

Fake eyelashes from nearly 60 years ago look like some being purchased today, though the accompanying glue is likely dried up.

Libby said a hairstylist from outside the area visited the shop recently and was excited to purchase a vintage can of hairspray with a comb attached.

The Strongs said they will charge $10 for most items on Saturday, though some are worth much more and will be priced higher. There is a large collection of Polaroid sunglasses from the 1960s available, and the price tag on those will be $35.

“With Christmas coming up, we think those could make a nice Christmas present,” Libby said.

There are also numerous Sheaffer pens that can sell online for as much as $250. Libby plans to sell them on Saturday for $50, and she has many of them. The original price listed on them is $1.98.

Libby reported they found a case containing cans of ether, and they called in a hazmat team to remove it. The empty cans were left behind and are among the items left for sale at the SMART Center.

Libby noted there is so much new old stock in the building that if accumulated together it would fill up at least half of one of their four floors.

“We have a need for space, and we want to get it (a collectible item) in the hands of people who want it,” she said.