Wonderland of nostalgia: Oddball Store in Old Colorado City home to the unconventional
A singing vintage Frank Sinatra plate. A guitar-wielding, dancing Elvis telephone. A silver and gold-plated Harley Davidson chess set from 1995.
Rows and rows of records. Sports memorabilia. Signed guitars. Dedicated sections to Marilyn Monroe, Betty Boop, Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Harry Potter.
This wonderland of nostalgia is the passion project of Manfred Burkholder, who opened Oddball Store Music and More in Old Colorado City last August. The store is a temporary home to a selection of unique items, including records, musical instruments, toys, antiques and collectibles from as far back as the early 19th century.
“We sell anything and everything, a lot of things you’ve never seen before, and you never will. So if you want it, you ought to buy it now,” Burkholder said.
Oddball Store Music and More, opened by Manfred Burkholder in Old Colorado City, is a treasure trove of nostalgia. Burkholder, a Vietnam-era Army veteran, and his wife Nancy curate the collection from local collectors, estate sales, and online auctions, creating a charming array of records, sports memorabilia, figurines, and more.
There’s a charm about the array of items, each handpicked by Burkholder, who can sometimes be found playing a vintage accordion in the front.
It started 13 years ago, when Burkholder, a Vietnam-era Army veteran, and his wife, Nancy, a Realtor and residential property manager, were cleaning out a house left behind by a tenant. There, Manfred was struck with an idea: Why not salvage some of the odd items left behind?
“One thing led to another. I found a guitar at a Goodwill store for $25, and I sold it for $100. I said, ‘Gee whiz, this is the business to get into,’” Burkholder said.
After a decade of success at the Colorado Springs Flea Market, the pair decided to search for a more permanent location to sell their growing collection of items, sourced from local collectors, estate sales and online auctions.
“I have dealers that I’ve met at the flea market over the years that now are my customers here,” he said.
Everything from vintage records, paintings, lava lamps and sports memorabilia can be found on the shelves — and the floor — of Oddball Store Music and More.
Burkholder enjoys scouring online auctions for hard-to-find items, and can never pass up a good yard sale. Anything you can think of, Burkholder will find it.
“My thing is going out and finding all this stuff, and I’ll go wherever it takes to find it,” he said. “I have the hardest time driving by a garage sale. My wife sees and she just shakes her head. She goes, ‘Go ahead and park.’”
The best part of the process: when the packages arrive.
“When the UPS man drops off the boxes, and I open it up, it’s like Christmas every single day,” he said. “I can’t remember everything I bought until it’s in front of me, and I go, ‘Oh, man, this is so cool; oh man, it’s busted, what a bummer.’ But it’s really interesting.”
The name for the store came naturally to Burkholder; he’s drawn to odd items, the stranger, the better.
ABOVE: Shelves full of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Betty Boop and Packers memorabilia hold some of Manfred Burkholder’s favorite items at his Oddball Store Music and More.
“When I first started at the flea market, I would just sell the stuff that people left behind. But then as I got more into it, and I started looking for oddball stuff, it just came to me one day, ‘Well, we’re Oddball Store Music and More,’” he said. “With some of my other vendors, they bring in normal stuff — and, quite frankly, it doesn’t sell as good.”
The store is littered with themed chess sets, from an English cops and robbers set to a vintage Avon chess collection. That’s no surprise, since Burkholder is a member of the Chess Federation.
“One of the big questions I hear a lot is, ‘Do you play chess? I do. So I sell a lot of chess sets here, and sometimes I give them away,” he said.
Much of the store’s advertising is just word of mouth, Burkholder said. People come from Denver and Pueblo just to see what’s in the store that day.
“We have a lot of good customers that come back,” he said. “The reason they come back is because they know that things change every day.”
The store owner shows his appreciation for customers by occasionally gifting items, like donating chess sets to young players. He also offers discounts for fellow veterans and first responders.
After a decade of success selling at the Flea Market, Burkholder and his wife decided to purchase a building in Old Colorado City to sell their growing collection of items, sourced from local collectors, estate sales and online auctions. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette)
“We donate a lot of stuff. Anybody comes in here for a school project or something that they want to give somebody, let’s say a violin for a professional, they get it, no questions asked,” he said.
But for Burkholder, it’s not about the items. It’s about meeting the people the goods bring in.
“For me personally, the value is the people that come in here, it’s the people that makes all this happen. Their expressions when they see something for the first time,” he said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve seen someone say, ‘God, my dad had one of these.’”
Oddball Store Music and More, 2413 W Colorado Ave., is open from 12-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday; and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
More information is available at myoddballstore.com.
Manfred Burkholder, owner of Oddball Store Music and More in Old Colorado City, poses for a portrait in the shop on Wednesday. The store opened in August.
RIGHT: Manfred Burkholder poses for a portrait in the Oddball Store Music and More in Old Colorado City. One of his favorite things about the store? “Everything has a story,” he says with a smile.