Ondine Clark-Bonk has good memories of thrift stores and antique stores, both close to home in Marquette and during a visit to relatives in the Canadian province of Manitoba. (Photo courtesy 8-18 Media director Marnie Foucault)

To me, Marquette is a city known for its numerous thrift stores and boutiques.

A thrift store is a magical place, filled with amazing objects just waiting to be discovered. You never know what these stores hold.

Thrift stores also have another genre of stores that fall under the “second-hand” umbrella, antique shops. The one main standout between thrift stores and antique shops is that antique shops’ items are, well, antique!

To me, an antique is any item dating before 1980, but things before 2000 can also be found in these shops. Of course, you may define an antique differently than I do, but I assume you understand the word.

For this column, I’d like to tell you a story about a trip that held some super cool antique shop finds. Also, at the end of this column, I’d like to give you some recommendations for stores in Marquette you should check out.

Now, let’s get on with the story. So, my dad is Canadian and was born in Brandon, Manitoba. Therefore his side of the family lives in Canada, and we visit them usually in the summer.

So last summer, we drove 13 1/2 hours to Brandon to see our family. We spent a week in Brandon, a weekend at Clear Lake, and finally, a day in Winnipeg.

While at my cousin’s baseball game, we talked about how we might visit The Forks, a popular tourist spot in Winnipeg where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet. Historically a hub of the fur trade until the 1880s, it now has many restaurants and stores.

My dad’s cousin told me that if we did go, we needed to visit this antique store in the basement of one of the buildings. I saved this information, and we did end up going to The Forks. I let my dad and sibling in on the tip.

When we arrived at The Forks, we took in the scenery, then began hunting for said store. After a quick five minutes of looking, we followed the signs to this hidden shop. A multiroom store, we could have spent our whole trip there, and nearly did.

There was everything from old board games to tchotchkes from the 1940s. My dad loves owls, and this shop satisfied his owl obsession. He bought a macrame owl and nearly bought a $65 metal owl paperweight. He also got a golf history shadowbox.

Vesper found three comics from the 1970s. As for me, I got a “Hi and Lois” comic book, a hockey magazine and three sets of hockey cards from 1992, with one of the card sets even coming with a piece of bubble gum. I think I’ll pass on the 33-year-old gum, thanks.

The strangest thing I saw was definitely a bunch of photos of strangers from the ’80s available for purchase. After more browsing, we eventually decided to check out. We went home satisfied. So, if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend this store. The best thing in there? You’ll have to find out yourself!

Now here are some great stores in the Marquette area. Some of my favorite thrift stores are Fancy-Free, located on 110 W. Washington St., for its uniqueness and carefully curated environment; Pak Ratz, located in the backlot of 1310 S. Front St., for its affordable, good-quality items; and The Better Half, located at 1313 S. Front St., for its wide range of things and themed rooms.

Other boutiques that stand out to me are Chickadees at 121 W. Washington St., Red Jacket at 107 S. Front St., and Evergreen Market at 135 W. Washington St.

Well, time to close this out. I hope this article inspired you to go thrifting or antiquing locally or while in a new place!

Ondine Clark-Bonk is a human being who has been alive for a decade and two years, an ogre of food and an arbitrary fact enthusiast.