PAINTING A HOPE: Owner of Archipelago Antiques Peter Thompson goes through the stacked paintings in the back of the antique shop, many of which are his own. While managing the shop, Thompson took up painting as a hobby. “(Collecting etchings) sort of got me into the painting business,” Thompson said. “Part of what was involved there was having a watercolor artist in the back, although, he was a little resentful when began painting as if I were taking the bread off his table or something like that.” Photo by Nicholas Byrne.
By ELLA SAMS – Broadcast Staff
The curiosity, the dedication and the struggles of Peter Thompson lead to the creation of Archipelago Antiques in Five Points.
Tucked away underneath Homeplace in Five Points, a humble antique shop sits among the moving cars and the passing people with an untold story. Within that humble antique shop sits a man with an untold story.
“I really like to keep pretty active of things that I’m really interested in,” owner of Archipelago Antiques Peter Thompson said. “In other words, I’m not going to be fishing for the rest of my life.”
Each day, Thompson opens the doors of Archipelago Antiques. He reads the New York Times and The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and then goes about his daily tasks to maintain the 25-year-old shop. Thompson’s love of reading contributed to opening the store.
“I always enjoyed Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop,” Thompson said. “I had an aim there to really fill the place up, not to have everyone come in and see everything at a glance. I think you’ll grant that that isn’t going to be possible. And, I’ve pretty well achieved that.”
Those who have never stopped to talk to him would never know that 27 years ago he recovered from a quintuple bypass surgery as well as prostate cancer. Because of his recovery, he began his antique business.
“I got through that pretty well, but I had to go into rehab with a lot of time on my hands otherwise. So I was beginning to think I was going to be retired permanently from (the University of Georgia) on medical grounds. So I decided to fill my time by starting an antique store,” Thompson said.
Thompson had previously worked as a biology professor at UGA. In the checkout of Bell’s grocery store, one of his friends from the English department confronted him, saying that he urges anyone his age to get a prostate-specific antigen test. Thompson took the test, and the results were not what he expected.
“It turned out it was cancer,” Thompson said. “(My friend) had apparently waited too long or wasn’t aware of his risk for a long time, and he did eventually die about a year later. I went ahead immediately even though I was in a class and had my prostate removed. So that took a little recovery too. On top of the bypass surgery it seemed a little bit much to deal with.”
As he recovered, he found that the antique business would be a bigger part of his life than he thought.
“You have to worry about making a profit if possible. But I have to tell you, I lose money a little bit every year, but it’s worth it. It’s like a big entertainment, and it’s not a devastating amount,” Thompson said.
Thompson’s curiosity as a child contributed to the inventory of Archipelago Antiques. His interest in toy soldiers can be seen in the hundreds of tiny faces within the glass cabinets.
“(Having toy soldiers) was pretty common for little boys (during my childhood), we’re talking around World War II,” Thompson said. “I guess the first real start of that was that one Christmas my brother was going to get a bicycle, he’s just a year and a half older, which probably would cost 15 dollars. They had to compensate in some way with me, and I was interested in a neighbor friend having toy soldiers we called ‘dime store soldiers’. So they bought me 5 dollars worth of dime store soldiers which (was) 50 of those things. Then I fought trench warfare against the neighbor kid, and we knocked the heads off of most of them.”
The inventory draws in a variety of people from all over Athens. Thompson saw it as a challenge to meet new people beyond his previous students.
“When I retired from the university, and I’ve had classes with 300 or more people, I kind of missed them a little bit,” Thompson said. “Sometimes those are the people who come in here and are sort of astounded to see me. But I do need a chance to make contact with people, especially people I don’t know. It’s all just been wonderful.”
Thompson’s story can be passed down as the antiques in the shop are passed down through generations. Sometimes, the best items can only be found underneath piles of other items. Sometimes, the best stores can only be found underneath the stores, the moving cars and the passing people.
“My motivation is to keep collecting things that I’m interested in and painfully let them go once someone buys them,” Thompson said. “I’ll probably continue until I’m an invalid or something like that.”
