MIDDLEBORO - Joline Scriven of Middleboro and Ann Aylward of Lakeville think that Rustic Rhino’s concept of selling art and antiquities in the same store will “bring something just a little more to Middleboro.”

“We wanted to mix antiques with art, so that people could enjoy both at the same time,” Aylward said.

The new store opened on Saturday in Middleboro’s downtown, near the intersection of South Main Street and Wareham Street. 

So far, the co-owners say the reception from Middleboro has been positive. “Everybody in this town is so welcoming to us,” Scriven said. “And we feel the same way. We're so happy to have them come into our shop.”

“They have been dying to get in here,” Aylward added.

Artists or antique vendors rent out different rooms in the store and regularly restock their own rooms with their own products. Scriven, Aylward, and their staff run the checkout, and pay the vendors each month based on what products they sold. 

Each vendor “has their own taste, their own style, and their own particular way they want things set up” in their rooms, Aylward said. “Every customer that comes in is commenting so much on the decor.”

Aylward said it was easy to find vendors for the new store. “We thought it might be [difficult] but it wasn't,” she said. “It's been so easy. And literally, it's been word of mouth.”

“We have four more vendors in the last week that aren't in yet,” Scriven added.

The two co-owners said that the prices of the products in the Rustic Rhino range in price from $2 to something that could be worth at least a thousand dollars. And Aylward said that products sold at the store can include “furniture, art, antiques, primitives, you name it.”

The idea for the store came in May 2022 from Scriven and Aylward’s years of experience buying and selling antiques. “We sold for years in antique shops,” Scriven said. “We love to go out and find new items and sell them to other people. It’s a great feeling to know that something you love is passed on to someone else who feels the same way about it.”

“I was actually in North Carolina, [traveling] up and down the coast with my dog in that Toyota over there. Just kind of not knowing what to do,” Aylward said. “And [Scriven] called me and said, ‘Hey, want to open an antique store?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ It was that simple.”