531 Wash House

531 Wash House, an antique store in Uniontown, Missouri, was opened in 2013 by lifelong friends Kathy Renner and Ruth Rellergert.

"We'd been friends for years," Renner says. "Ruthie bought her homeplace back in 2011, plus another house [beside it] that her great-grandfather had lived in. I [had purchased] the brick house across the street back in 2004 that my great-grandfather had lived in."

These homes were built in 1897.

"The Unterreiner-Kasten brick company made all the bricks," Renner says. "Then, in the early 1900s, Unterreiner sold the brickyard to Kasten, and Kasten moved it to Jackson, where it remains today."

The wash house name comes from the fact that the building once served as the place where families living nearby washed their clothes.

Ruth Rellergert, left, and Kathy Renner, co-owners of 531 Wash House in Uniontown, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"We decided to start out small, and we did it one room at a time," Renner says.

Within six months, the business had grown to the point where Renner and Rellergert were ready to expand.

"There is another brick house on the property, and about six months after we opened, we expanded into it," Renner says.

The business, which sells "antiques and more," as Renner puts it, has been thriving ever since.

She adds that customers are her favorite part of the business: "We have met so many nice people."

The biggest change the business has gone through has been its expansion, she says.

"We have a lot of stuff, some of which is consignment, so we needed a bigger place," Renner says.

She says "friendliness, kindness and reasonable prices" are their keys to success.

"And, we keep changing things around," she adds. She also jokes, "Ruthie and I can't get mad at each other, since we're in business together!"