The shop, named Alnutts Antiques and Things, is just one of several Hillsboro businesses starting up or changing things around this fall.

And according to Freddie, it's proven the perfect season for he and wife Pat to make their move into the building that formerly housed Walker's Quality Meats and Processing.

"We got a chance to buy this store, and I could pay cash for it," he said. "The whole plan was to be open for the 16th, because we thought that would either make or break us."

Following a lot of hard work by the couple and friend Dustin Altum, Saturday showed itself successful for the shop, which is stocked full of antiques that Freddie has been collecting since he was 18 years old.

"I grew up going to sales," said the native of Chillicothe, Mo. "Most people would go fishing with their daddy-mine, we'd wake up Saturday and go to a sale.

"Antiques have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember."

And since moving to rural Hillsboro nine years ago, the semi-retired couple-Freddie formerly worked for a railroad company and Pat for a telephone company-has been filling up both their house and a barn with antiques that now have another outlet.

"I try to buy things that I like," he said. "If I buy it and it doesn't sell, I just put it in my house. That's the neat thing about it."

With Freddie specializing in the antiques, Pat said she had the "and Things" added to the store's name so she could add her own not-so-antique purchases to the store's inventory.

And while an antique shop may not have been exactly what Pat had in mind, running a store with her best friend is definitely a dream some true.

"We work at it together," she said. "If it starts getting too cluttery, I put my foot down."

Added Freddie with a laugh: "I want to be 'early American clutter,' but she won't let me."

In actuality, Freddie said the store's "style" will end up reflecting what the area's residents seem most interested in buying these days.

"I've seen a lot of changes," he said. "What used to be the throwaway 20 years ago is the hot item today.

"So we'll keep going to sales and trying to change our inventory," he continued. "I know now from what people have bought what to go buy."

In addition to old farm implements, Freddie said he will also sell tractors that he's rebuilt.

Other items may be viewed in the store, open during the day from Monday through Saturday, and eventually on their Web site at www.allnutts.com.

For more information, call the shop at 947-2700.

"We just thought there was maybe a need for another antique store in town," Freddie said. "It's going to be fun."

Opening for business this Thursday a few blocks away is ClayWorks, a pottery shop of "hand-turned items for the kitchen" by Paula Hayen.

Hayen's shop, located at 1111⁄2 E. Grand, is a reopening of a store of the same name that she ran for a year in Marion before coming down with cancer nine years ago.

Now she's ready to get back at the wheel and start turning out her specialty-sturdy, functional pieces that aren't meant to sit on a shelf.

"I want to make sure that it's going to wear and be usable in the home," she said. "Most of it is very functional and can be used every day."

Her storefront will be open two days a week-from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday.

With 16 years of experience in production pottery and a year of teaching pottery at McPherson College under her belt, Hayen said her services will include custom-designed pieces for special occasions, offering her high-fire electric kiln for other community members to fire their own pottery pieces and possibly even teaching her own pottery classes in town.

Following closely on the heels of Hillsboro's new downtown shops is R&D Liquor Store, slated to open in early October next to Vogt's Hometown Market in the Hillsboro Heights business park along U.S. Highway 56.

Owner Don Vinduska broke ground about a month ago on the store, a bigger version of the D&J Liquor he and wife Jeannie opened in 1999 in Marion.

General contractor Morton Buildings and several local sub-contractors have just about finished the job, Vinduska said.

Hours for the store are still uncertain, he said, possibly 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week and a bit longer on the weekend.

"We're not exactly sure how late we're going to go yet," he said.

Vinduska said the long-awaited second store is finally becoming a reality at the encouragement of many residents in the Hillsboro area.

"They're excited about having a store locally," he said. "We're just overwhelmed by the support we've been getting."

After three months in business, Main Street Delite at 117 S. Main will soon start switching up their evening menu to offer diners a few more entree options, said manager Paula Toews.

The restaurant is a long-planned addition for owner Wendell Wedel, who has run his Main Street Cafe in Durham for more than a decade now.

Open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, the Hillsboro restaurant boasts an extensive lunch menu of sandwiches and salads while offering a light breakfast menu of cinnamon and pecan rolls, muffins and coffee.

The evening menu will soon change to offer a variety of main dishes from week to week, Toews said.

"We'll try to have it posted for the week ahead, having different things instead of the same each night of the week," she said.

Just down the street, Sorb Computers plans to move a few doors farther north this weekend from 111 to 105 S. Main. It will reopen in its new, smaller office Oct. 2, said owner Marc Penner.

And other than a reduced number of office supplies in stock, Penner said his business will continue to offer the same range of sales and service of computer equipment and supplies, whether in stock or on a per-order basis, as well as Internet and phone services.

Office hours will remain 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"We can perform everything we do in a much smaller space," Penner said. "If we can do that, it makes decent business sense to cut out some fixed costs and make it easier to be profitable."

On North Main Street, Et Cetera Shop continues to turn a profit for Mennonite Central Committee, as well as Hillsboro's Main Street Ministries, under new management by Carol Abrahams.

Abrahams, a Hillsboro resident, joined the staff nearly two months ago after 12 years of management in Salvation Army stores.

Abrahams has used her marketing and merchandising skills to give a facelift to the Hillsboro thrift store, including color-coding houseware items and just doing a little rearranging.

"I have a lot of great volunteers who help me put the store together," she said. "I've had a lot of people say that they like it."

The store's hours remain 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Within the last year, the Et Cetera Shop has been able to contribute $28,000 to MCC and $1,000 to Main Street Ministries, Abrahams said, and she hopes for higher profits this next year.

"Pricing might have gone a little bit higher, but that's only because we've fixed it up and we're getting nicer things in," she said.