AMHERST – Etagere at 114 Route 101A houses a bevy of period piece boxes, unique kitchen and household items and other retro, vintage and antique wares. Every nook and corner beckons the human eye.

Owners and mother and daughter duo Joy and Brook Martello had their official opening in Oct. 2020, but have been gaining momentum since then.

Etagere specializes in “high tea,” where the word “high” implies a very sturdy meal. “Low tea” originally designated women seated at a low table where they might enjoy tea and light pastries and finger sandwiches.

“If we were to say we serve ‘low tea’ and people look at the price, people wouldn’t understand what they’re actually getting,” Joy Martello said. “You have to go high.”

It’s not Americanized though, Joy pointed out. “It’s evolved.”

“High tea just sounds better,” Joy said. “It sounds more posh. What we’ve done is taken our interpretation, based on places in Europe that I visited, and I said, ‘this is what we want to do.'”

Etagere offers one high tea seating a day at 1 p.m. They have recently added the concept of “elevenses,” which is an Australian with a bit of Welsh and Irish thrown in. “Elevenses,” by definition, is a short break with light refreshments, usually accompanied by tea and coffee, served at 11 a.m.

“It’s a midmorning tea,” Joy explained. “Normally served with various meats and cheeses, like a charcuterie board and a couple of breakfast pastries as well. We’re adding that in the next week.”

The Martellos are finding that more people are coming into the shop in the morning, and “elevenses” will not require reservations. The antique/eatery also offers housemade quiche daily.

As for how the Martellos describe “Etagere,” Brook called it an “eclectic boutique.”

“Ironically, it was the hardest thing to describe before we opened,” Brook said. “Even with friends and family, they would say, ‘I don’t get it.’ And our response would be, ‘Wait until it opens. You’ll see.'”

Brook’s background is in the beauty industry, while Joy is a pastry chef and former restaurant owner. Together, they both enjoy antiques, home décor and shopping.

“I say it’s essentially three businesses under one roof,” Joy added. “We wanted people to be able to walk into the shop and look at it as more of an experience. We wanted people to be drawn into this place instead of a shop that you just stop in to get one thing and leave. Because we’ve made it multi-faceted, we wanted it to be a place where people can come in and enjoy themselves.”

The biggest takeaway, according to Joy, was that if she was to return to work after retirement, she wanted to enjoy herself.

“I began collecting antiques in the ’70s,” Joy said. “It’s now time for me to start de-investing. So, that was one of the reasons that we put antiques in.”

Joy also has a considerable collection of antique boxes. The two explained the difference between retro, vintage and antique collectibles.

“There is retro, which is anything outside of twenty years old,” Brook said. “Vintage is anything outside of 50 years old; and antique is anything outside of 100 years old.”

As Etagere opened during the pandemic, they were actually ready to open earlier but thrown a COVID curveball.

“We had to open,” Brook said. “We were ready. We had to. We were already here. And we had rent to pay.”

Joy said it wasn’t that bad and went as far as to say, it was a positive thing.

“Thank goodness we opened when we did,” Joy said. “That way we were able to open up a little bit more slowly and we were able to make mistakes and change a few things.”

The hardest thing has been trying to find staff, as the stimulus checks and unemployment checks have kept workers away.

“But we did find some good people,” Joy said. “Business has grown steadily and at the end of the day, we did okay.”

The boutique also boasts a beauty bar where their tagline, “Spend an hour or spend a day,” makes beauty and pampering come to life.

“My background is working in the beauty industry,” Brook said. “I’m a nail tech and a make-up artist. What kind of made us go this route with the beauty bar is that my sister-in-law was pregnant and my mom wanted to take us all out for pedicures. And we called every place from here to Boston to the seacoast. And no one could accommodate us.”

Etagere offers four chairs/stations and the room is elegantly decorated with brass fixtures, cleverly-styled lamps and barn doors to offer seclusion and privacy.

“We don’t play spa music,” Brook said. “We wanted this to be fun. There is no sage green or Tiffany blue in here. We wanted it to be a spot where if you wanted to come in and bring your nine bridesmaids and make some noise, you can enjoy yourself in the beauty bar and have total privacy.”

The beauty bar specializes in “foot soaks,” where clients can drift away for thirty minutes while they pamper their feet.

“We have three botanical foot soaks,” Brook said. “Right now we have a spicy pine meadow foot soak and then we’ve noticed that a lot of moms are bringing their nine or ten-year-olds in so I created a foot soak that has bubbles and glitter.”

There is also a treatment room adjacent to the beauty bar. The accent chairs are the centerpiece of the room, so when you enter, your eye immediately finds them.

“In the planning, I can see things in my mind,” Joy said. “We found the chairs first and then designed the room around them.”

The Martellos have traveled to trade shows between Las Vegas and Atlanta, and for three years, they continued collecting pieces which are now showcased in the shop.

The tea area is encased in a metal gazebo which adds a flourish to that corner of the coffee bar. Elsewhere, small settees and tables are placed so that whether you’re a foursome or a twosome, there’s a spot to relax somewhere in the boutique.

And on Feb. 13 and 14, Etagere will host an “Alice in Wonderland” tea party for all ages.

“We’re pretty much already booked up for Saturday the 13th,” Brook said. “And we have people who have registered coming in from Boston. I’m really trying to break into that area.”

This fall, Joy said they’re hoping to attract “leaf peepers” to the shop for tea services. They’re also planning a “goth tea.” Not the vampire variety but rather period-piece themed.

“More the romantic goth,” Brook said. “We’re trying to do that in each individual section of the boutique.”

“The thing I also want to do is attract senior citizen homes or centers and advertise for them to bring folks in,” Joy continued. “A lot of seniors appreciate a lot of the antiques that we feature. We serve everything on antique plates and dishes.”

Part whimsy, part wonder, Etagere offers something for everyone.

“We could have been a reality show many times over,” Joy said with a laugh.

To book a “high tea” or for more information, visit Etagere’s website at sipshopsoak.com.