More restaurants and specialty shops dotting Fourth Street would mean a revitalized district. The uptick in such shops, they envision, would make Tonganoxie a destination spot where travelers stop for a spell.

The downtown push, they hope, starts with them.

Longtime area residents, the Bichelmeyers have opened Decades Past, a vintage store at 613 E. Fourth St. in downtown Tonganoxie.

They selected the name because the business sells decorations and collectibles from various eras.

“You can pick whatever era you want,” Sandy said, referring to items in the store.

A wooden high chair and office desk adorn the front areas of the 1,000-square-foot store, while other displays accentuate Christmas wares. Chairs and plates hang near the ceiling, as does a 4-foot blue dolphin made of metal. John Bichelmeyer, Sandy and Ray’s son, created the artwork, as well as a large sunflower that hangs on a door at Decades Past.

It’s a specialty shop that Sandy hopes can encourage other niche businesses to open up in one of the many vacant storefronts downtown.

“We hope to help make it live again,” Sandy said.

The couple actually has owned the building since 2000. When the Waterman family sold The Mirror newspaper to the World Company, the Bichelmeyers purchased the building where The Mirror formerly was housed. They renovated the building, putting an apartment upstairs. On the main level, Sandy and their daughter Jenny Chambers operated Sandy’s Flowers until 2008.

Deb Stanwix opened City of Angels Thrift Store in the space that year, but in August moved into the former train depot on Main Street. It was then that Sandy decided to open the space up with items the family has collected through the years.

Another daughter, Susan Kiefer, who owns Sweet*tart Boutique, also will offer some merchandise from her business, which is based in Olathe. The boutique offers various items, including sports team merchandise.

“We try to have a little bit of everything,” Sandy said.

She said she expects to have regular hours starting in the coming weeks. The business will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. She’ll also open the store up by appointment. Shoppers can call her at 913-433-6554.

Sandy has been in retail much of her life. Most recently she worked in the floral department at B&J Country Mart before Brother’s Market purchased the store.

She grew up on a farm between Tonganoxie and Linwood. She and Ray raised their family on a farm near Eudora before moving in 1995 to Tonganoxie.

Ray worked several years as a meat cutter at various grocery stores. The family also operated Bichelmeyer’s Bar-B-Que in Eudora, later opening a location in Baldwin City.

The couple told of a couple claims to fame: Mutual of Omaha filmed a commercial at their farm, while Charles Kuralt, a longtime broadcast journalist on CBS, dined at their Eudora restaurant. Kuralt and his crew happened to be in the area and stopped in for a meal.

Once the couple moved to Tonganoxie, they stayed along Fourth Street. They lived in a house on West Fourth Street before living in the apartment above their business. They now have a house back on West Fourth Street.

Married 43 years, they’ve stayed in the area for the duration and have seen plenty of things change in Tonganoxie.

They hope activity downtown can bustle more like it did in years past.

“I would like to see the street fill up with shops and restaurants,” Sandy said.