Barbara Trimbur is a “hunter and gatherer” at heart, she said.
In 1996 she started a flea market vendor booth at this building. She began renting more booths and gathering items to sell. Eventually, she “took over the back room” of the flea market,” she said.
“Yvonne Beck owned the store and I mentioned that if she ever got tired of doing this, I was interested,” Trimbur said. That was in November 2003.
“The first year Cindy Bowman (another vendor) and I did an open house around the holidays,” she said.
The store next door, Corner of Time, became available to rent when Cathy Reed and her husband left. She started expanding and moved into that store.
In 2014, the building owner, Steve McGinnis, was interested in selling the store, so Trimbur purchased the whole building at 3 North Main Street in Fort Scott’s Historic Downtown District.
The store, The Iron Star Antiques and Such, was an anchor in the downtown for these decades.
On February 13, 2026 she closed her doors.
A young couple has purchased the building and her inventory.
“I just had to move out a few things,” she said.
“It’s been a very emotional transaction for me,” she said. “I had no idea how people really felt about us.”
“The store was a place where people could decompress. We tried to treat everybody with respect, whether they spent $5 or $500.”
Trimbur had two consigners at the store, people who brought items in to be sold: Karen Mix and Cathy Thomas.
The challenge through the years has been “to win over ‘Where are we going to put that?’ But, some of the grumpy men became our best friends.” Many customers became friends over the years, she said.
The best part of the job was helping people create a warm space
“The building needed to be taken over by somebody younger with visions for it,” she said. “It’s time to let go. Maybe I’ll do a little traveling.”
“I’ll have a booth here and there and continue hunting and gathering antiques and decor things that bring joy.”
Trimbur would like to thank Fort Scott and the surrounding area for “Making us feel so appreciated. We had about 1/3 of our customers that came from Nevada (MO) and Pittsburg. We are lucky to have such a pretty downtown.”
