Kate Schneider/ THE POST Ella Hackworth shops with her mother at Random House Antiques on West State Street. Random House Antiques, like many other antique stores, has a wide variety of merchandise from the turn of the century to present day.

The smell of linseed oil and wood finish fills the air as one enters the front door of Random House. To the left, antique wooden furniture and a mint green iron dentist's chair with a black-leather seat make one pause. To the right, an antique wooden cuckoo clock that no longer sings hangs on the wall behind the counter. Slightly further back in the room is an antique black and gold-maned merry-go-round horse on a brass pole, rising high above the wooden furniture that is surrounding its perch. And in the back, a Black Tower white wine bottle filled with pink and white plastic gladiolas sits on an overturned set of drawers.

Walking into Random House, an antique store located at 12 West State St., owned by Jim Jezik, is like taking a step backward into the recent past. A wide variety of interesting antiques are available for sale, and one could spend an entire day simply looking at the assortment of objects.

It is this wide variety of items that makes antique stores so interesting to shop in. It is also one of the largest consumers of Jezik's time. While some people call to tell Jezik of an antique they would like to sell, most of the time he has to go out and actually find the antiques himself.

Choosing which items to buy is no easier a task than finding the items themselves. Predicting what customers would be likely to buy, as opposed to what he would like to have in the store, offers a unique challenge that is not always done successfully.

"If it's something I really like, and I think I can make money off of it, I buy it," Jezik said.

Even with these difficulties, business has been quite good lately. Selling antiques is a seasonal business, and in Athens, the fall is traditionally a busy time of year. While the clientele of Random House is as diverse as the store's inventory, returning Ohio University students help account for the jump in business, Jezik said.

A bit further down the road, located at 90 North Court St., is Second Hand Rose. Owned by Marsha Egleston, the store specializes in second hand clothing, antique furniture and other interesting odds and ends.

Unlike Random House, where Jezik is the sole owner, Second Hand Rose uses a mall format. Twelve local dealers rent space within the store for $1.25 per square foot, plus a 5 percent commission on sales. Egleston also reserves part of the store for her own merchandise.

Like Jezik, finding items to sell in the store takes up a great deal of Egleston's time.

"You do a lot of traveling," she said.

On occasion, customers do come into the store with merchandise, though Egleston does not encourage this.

"I hate, with a passion, being put on the spot," Egleston said.

Second Hand Rose also has a diverse clientele, although OU students are the focus around Halloween. In the time leading up to the holiday, the volume of vintage clothing is about double what it usually is, said Egleston.

"We really work hard at trying to get stuff out for Halloween," Egleston said.

Cara Gallagher, a junior marketing student at OU, is typical of many students shopping in Second Hand Rose. Stopping by the store after class, she shopped for a costume to wear on Halloween.

"It's a nice store," Gallagher said.