Posted by Diane Dewell on 5th Oct 2026
The Wonderful, Weird Side of Vintage: Oddities and Conversation Pieces at Industrial Treasures
Scarecrow Weekend brings a lot of people to St. Charles, and if you're already making the trip, there's something worth adding to your day — just a few minutes from downtown.
Industrial Treasures is about 8,000 square feet of furniture, artwork, lighting, industrial pieces, tools, curiosities, and things that are genuinely hard to categorize. If you've been before, you know what that means. If you haven't, it's one of those places that tends to surprise people — usually right when you walk in.
The Percolator
Near the front of the store, there's a rotating light sculpture by artist Randy Grant. It's a multi-level assemblage of glowing liquid-filled canisters, mechanical components, a Tesla coil dome on top, and green light — all set to "The Percolator," a Chicago house music track that gets played in clubs.
It's motion-activated. Walk past it and the whole thing comes to life.
People smile. Some start dancing. Children tend to crouch down at the base to watch the vortices spinning inside the canisters. Others reach up to touch the glass dome and watch what looks like lightning reach back toward their fingers.
We've been asked more than once whether it drives us crazy having it run all day. It doesn't. What's better than something in the store that makes people want to dance?
Other Things You Won't See Anywhere Else
The Percolator gets the most attention, but it's not the only thing that stops people. We currently have a full-size fiberglass pink horse, a race car, a massive piece of white coral, and a full-sized female mannequin covered entirely in keyboard keys. These aren't props or display pieces. They're for sale. That's the nature of the inventory — you can't predict what you're going to find, and it changes.
A lot of people find things that trigger a memory they weren't expecting. Something on a shelf connects with an object from a grandparent's workshop, a tool from an old job, a lamp that used to be somewhere familiar. That happens more than you might expect in a store with this much variety.
The Halloween Tree
Right now, the store's seasonal tree is dressed for Halloween in a Victorian Gothic style: dark flowers, cobwebs, cameo ornaments with silhouetted skeleton figures, ghost cutouts, a large spider, and lights. There's a full-sized Grim Reaper standing alongside it. It's become its own photo stop.
The tree changes for every season and occasion throughout the year. Right now it's exactly what the season calls for.
What Else to Expect
Industrial Treasures carries vintage furniture, original art and lighting, architectural salvage, industrial artifacts, tools, lab equipment, books, collectibles, and things that don't fit neatly into any category. There's something for serious collectors and for people who just want to find one interesting thing they didn't know they needed until they saw it. The size and variety of the store tend to catch first-time visitors off guard — in a good way.
Live Watercolor Demonstration on Sunday
This Sunday, October 11, artist Tom Herzberg will be painting on site at Industrial Treasures from 1 to 5 PM. Herzberg works in watercolor and does live demonstrations in the store while visitors watch. If you're out for Scarecrow Weekend on Sunday, it's worth timing your visit around it.
How to Find Us
Industrial Treasures is in St. Charles — we're just not downtown. We're near the intersection of Route 64, Main Street, North Avenue, and 13th Avenue. If you know where the St. Charles Motorcycle Museum is on North Avenue, we're just around the corner from there. From the Scarecrow Weekend activity, it's a long walk, a short bike ride, or an extremely brief drive.
The address is 1501 Indiana Avenue, Unit 1A.
Scarecrow Weekend hours:
- Friday, October 9: 10 AM to 5 PM
- Saturday, October 10: 10 AM to 5 PM
- Sunday, October 11: 11 AM to 5 PM (Tom Herzberg painting live 1 to 5 PM)