Inside Summit County’s boutique antique store: Speakeasy Antiques

Speakeasy Antiques, a restored former shoe‑repair shop owned by Marilee Ward, stands along Main Street in Kamas, Utah, offering what Ward says is Summit County’s only dedicated antique store. Photo: Rebecca Brenner

KAMAS, Utah — A once‑dilapidated cement‑block shoe‑repair shop on Kamas’ Main Street, then Artique, home to local artists, now houses what owner Marilee Ward calls the only full‑time antique store in Summit County — and nearly every piece inside trekked west from Pennsylvania.

“I’m doing this to meet people, and because I love the history of old things,” Ward said, standing among 18th‑century Chinese export pots, English barley‑twist candlesticks, and a towering Mormon step‑back cupboard from Brigham City.

Ward, who grew up in Pittsburgh and studied at Grove City College, first skied in Park City in 1979. She and her husband moved to the High Star Ranch community three years ago, fleeing Chester County’s humid summers and bugs. Last year, she rented a back room in the downtown building, but when the previous tenant closed, the landlord asked whether she wanted the entire place.

“Do I want to do this at my age?” Ward recalled wondering. She bought the structure this spring, inheriting a sagging roof that contractors soon discovered housed raccoons. After rebuilding the rafters, crews resided the façade in wood and painted it black. “I wanted it to look like an old English shop with a Western storefront,” she said.

The renovated space reopened this summer as Speakeasy Antiques, its name nodding to Ward’s love of stories behind objects. She stocks what she calls “curated, quality pieces” shipped from her original shop, Brandywine River Antiques in Chadds Ford, Pa., a 250‑year‑old barn frequented by artist Jamie Wyeth, actor Sigourney Weaver and lifestyle icon Martha Stewart.

Inside the Kamas store, Ward points to a blue‑and‑white Canton jar from the Qing dynasty. “All of this is called chinoiserie. This pot is from the 1600s or 1700s,” she said. Nearby sit cut‑glass serving bowls hand‑cut in western Pennsylvania, French stagecoach plates, Waterford crystal and sterling Taxco jewelry.

Ward curates pieces she believes transcend time and place. “If you buy a piece like this, it doesn’t mean you need a historic house,” she said, gesturing to the step‑back cupboard. “It can sit in a contemporary home and be a piece of art.”

Utah buyers, she added, rarely see such variety. “There are almost no antiques for sale in Utah,” Ward said. “I try to have something for everybody, but I’m not in the business of selling junk.”

Her background as a longtime school librarian shapes the shop’s educational bent. Ward researches every item’s provenance, eager to share how Spode china is transfer‑printed from acid‑etched copper plates or why silver flatware possesses natural antibacterial properties. “The amount of work that went into these things is unbelievable,” she said.

Ward says she runs the business “on a wing and a prayer,” but hopes Speakeasy Antiques will give locals and visitors a deeper appreciation for craftsmanship. “History and quality still matter,” she said. “These pieces have survived for centuries. They are works of art.”