Merry (and elegant) for the holidays

KENT —Shopping at Scott & Bowne is a bit like visiting an eccentric, well-traveled great-grandparent — if one were allowed to pick up and inspect all that caught the eye, and if everything that took one’s fancy were for sale. This is a shop whose inventory is an eclectic, ever-changing collection of fine arts and furnishings, from silver to 19th-century photo albums to statues, as well as curios from around the world. A wide range of prices and historical eras are represented.

John Koch, the shop’s owner, said of the broad range of items, “We are a buyer of estates, and therefore sell everything in a home, for homes.” 

While Scott & Bowne sells furniture spanning two centuries, mid-century masters such as Paul McCobb, Tommi Parzinger and Ed Wormley are well-represented. 

“We were selling mid-century 20 years before ‘Mad Men,’” Koch said.

Before his move to Kent, Koch had spent his entire adult life in New York City. After he graduated from Georgetown University with an English degree, his first job was moving furniture at Sotheby’s. He was able to parlay that into a job with an import/export company. 

“My experience comes directly from handling furniture; it came from working with dealers, endless hours at auctions, hearing the lore shared from sellers and dealers — that was my education.”

In 1986, he opened John Koch Antiques in West Chelsea, selling to other dealers as well as providing furnishings for television shows and movie sets. 

“Chelsea was a rough-and-tumble area at the time, long before the art galleries came in and the whole area transformed.” 

It was at the warehouse in 1997 that he met his husband, fine artist George Wittman; they have been together ever since.

After 15 years in Chelsea, Koch moved his business to a storefront at 201 West 84 St., where he could sell to retail customers while continuing to work with clients in the entertainment industry. (Half of the business’s revenue still comes from providing set dressings and props, he estimated.)

Explaining how he and Wittman made the move to Kent, Koch said, “After what seemed a lifetime in New York, we were looking for greenery and a weekend home. I remembered visiting Sharon with friends, so we started looking online for houses in Litchfield County. The first house we saw online and visited was the house we bought here in Kent.”

That was in 2009. Before long “the commute to the city became a bore and a drag” and he “wanted to enjoy the greenery we had in my new home and town, the reason we had made the move.” 

So in 2010, Koch took on a retail space on North Main Street. “Clean, brightly lit, new floors, an open and large space. It was my dream store.”

Koch still runs both stores, and said that some of his city clients learn about the 84th Street store by visiting the Kent location, even when they live just a few blocks away in Manhattan.

“When you live and work in New York, sometimes you are so busy, you don’t look up, as it were, or travel off your path, and so often I have people discovering my New York store by visiting Scott & Bowne here in Kent.” 

Koch said that much of what is sold in Kent is for customers’ homes in the city; anything bought in either store can be delivered to the other, he added.

On the day of this interview, both Koch and Wittman were at the store, in full costume, preparing for the many trick-or-treaters who would soon descend upon the town. They were more than ready, having festooned the store with seasonal decorations and laid in masses of candy. 

“One of the nice things about the shop, a point of pride, is this sort of thing. I love to dress the window, especially for the holidays. To give back to the community is important to us.”

Scott & Bowne is located at 27 North Main Street. For hours and information, call 860-592-0207 or go to www.scottandbowne.com or www.johnkochantiques.com.