By John E. Weare
Keep Alliance Beautiful
Over the noon hour one day this summer I was manning the shop as the rest of our crew was out on a cardboard run. Dr. Troy Unzicker, Alliance Public Schools superintendent, pulled up to the south door at the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center and handed me a couple large black bags from Sweet Pickin’s, his family’s new business downtown.
I had been to the nutrition/variety shop since it opened May 8, but did not think about whether they recycled. The bags contained mostly cups, straws and other items from nutritional drinks. Troy’s wife Susan and their daughter Tabitha operate the drink side while he draws on his experience with sports and other collectibles.
“Always said when I retired I was going to open a picker, antique store,” Troy said. Susan wasn’t interested in that type of venture, he explained. After years as director of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce she wanted to open a nutritional lounge. They put the idea to have both at one location together over a couple months. “Took us a while to find a building and away we went,” Troy said.
Finding the range of collectables in the store was not much of a stretch. “I’ve collected for quite a while. . . . I had some doubles and extras and went to some auctions.” Comics have been popular so far. Starting with 1,500, he bought about 500 from people stopping in while selling about 1,000. One sold for $250. “It’s fun to see people come out. There are people around here who know a whole lot more about comic books than I do,” Troy said.
To learn about the nutritional drinks Susan took courses through the wholesale company they use to become a distributor. “We’ve been working to build our customer base,” Troy said. “The product is not really cheap, but it’s nutritional – less than a gram of sugar in most of them. . . . I think the drinks are a surprise to people, not what they expect.” As the season changes to autumn, Susan is looking at recipes for hot shakes and hot chocolates, though the rest of the cold drink menu will remain. Vintage items are year round, however Troy continues to look for inventory people want and buy/sell/trade things.
Recycling at the business is an extension of what they do at home. “We try to recycle everything we can. The product comes in cardboard boxes. If they’re left here (cups and straws) we encourage our customers to recycle as well. The ingredients come in plastic,” Troy said. In the back of the building are separate plastic bags for plastic and paper as well as a space for broken down boxes.
“I’ve been very involved with KAB since we moved here – 11th year on the KAB board, got us focused on that,” he said. Troy explained he also keeps the school district involved, adding “it is very important to keep it out of the landfill.”
The vintage aspect of the business is part of the “reuse” side of the triangle. Kept in good condition, collectors will continue to circulate everything from sports cards to action figures indefinitely. Troy pointed out a few examples from the floor including a flipperless pinball machine from the 1930s and a 1911 doll made in Germany for Sears.
The Unzickers have enjoyed the family aspect of the business. Tabitha helped all summer and now works nights and weekends. “Brings us together more as a family,” Troy said, adding they
are learning more about each side than they may have wanted to. He likes hearing about others’ collections and just sitting and visiting.