At 939 2nd Avenue East in Owen Sound, Heartwood Home fills its shelves with what owner Joanna Bottrell calls unique and unusual things, stuff you cannot find anywhere else, an inventory built largely from estate auctions rather than typical secondhand donation channels. Bottrell traces the shop’s origin to her own habit of attending farm and estate auctions, including one sale of items from the Krug brothers’ estate, where she found herself drawn to the surprise of box lots, unsorted groupings of household goods sold as a single unit. She has described that experience as feeling like Christmas: emptying the box lots and discovering what was hidden at the bottom. That auction hunting instinct still shapes how the shop is stocked today, with pieces rotating in as new lots are found rather than sitting static on the shelf for months at a time.
Alongside antiques pulled from those auctions, Heartwood Home carries furniture and crafts made by local makers, along with a selection of hard to find plants for anyone furnishing a home with living greenery rather than only vintage objects. The shop also serves coffee roasted by Ashanti Coffee, using Colombian Arabica beans, giving visitors a reason to linger rather than move quickly through the space. Many items on the floor are tagged with the history behind them, a storytelling touch that turns a simple price tag into a short account of where a piece came from and who owned it before, which matters to shoppers who care as much about an object’s backstory as its price.
Heartwood Home sits below Heartwood Hall, a connected upstairs venue that hosts live music and other events, extending the building’s role in the Owen Sound community beyond retail hours alone. The shop keeps a defined schedule, open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday, giving weekday and Saturday shoppers a predictable window to browse. Visitors can reach the shop directly at 519-470-2500 or by email at hrtwdhome@gmail.com with questions about current stock or upcoming events at Heartwood Hall.
The shop’s approach to sourcing, built around Bottrell’s own presence at estate and farm auctions across Grey County, means the antiques on the floor tend to carry a documented local history rather than arriving as anonymous secondhand stock, and that local sourcing extends to the furniture and crafts made by area artisans as well. For anyone in Grey County looking for antiques with a documented story, locally made furniture and crafts, hard to find plants, and a cup of Colombian coffee in one stop, Heartwood Home on 2nd Avenue East offers exactly that combination, built around owner Joanna Bottrell’s own auction hunting habit and her instinct for finding what is worth telling a story about.
In short, Heartwood Home is an Owen Sound shop specializing in estate auction antiques, local maker goods, and rare plants, paired with an on site coffee bar and a connected event venue upstairs, open Tuesday through Saturday for browsing and discovery.
