Holy moly!

Okay, so get this...

This morning, the Troy Record (a small local paper) printed this article:

TROY — The city’s Antiques District will be cast into the national limelight Monday as three local shops are featured as part of a segment on the Oprah Winfrey Show after one the program’s designers made a visit to the area on Halloween.

Nate Berkus, one of Oprah’s featured design experts, was in the city on Oct. 31 looking for items to use in a home renovation project he was working on in Schenectady. He ended up taking his video crew along with him throughout the Antiques District and stopped along the way at Bournebrook Antiques, located at 172 River St., The Living Room, located at 274 River St., and the Antiques Warehouse, located at 78 Fourth St.

Mike Davis, owner of Bournebrook Antiques said he had recently gotten a phone call from the show’s producers which informed him that his shop and the district as a whole would be featured on an episode scheduled to air Monday.

“I think Troy will get a nice shot and, of course, we’re thrilled,” said Davis, who went on to explain that he believed Berkus had come to the city looking for suitable antiques because of a developing trend in recent years where several movie studios and production companies have come up from New York City searching for period-correct items to use as props or as part of their set design.

The most recent of these visits was made on Thursday morning when individuals from Redemption Pictures, a national film production company, came in to pick up an order of items which will be used on the set of the new “Sherlock Holmes” movie currently being filmed in London by Guy Ritchie starring Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role and Jude Law as the infamous Doctor Watson.

According to Davis, studios and production companies have been frequenting his store for such items over the past three years, often sending two individuals, who quickly hunt through his three floors of antiques with a pen and paper in hand, make a few calls to their superiors, and give him a list of what they’d like to purchase.

“The word is out, and we’re kind of the place to come to find this great stuff that they need,” said Davis, who noted that his shop featured several tools, ropes, and chains from the late 19th century that could easily fit into the “Sherlock Holmes” time period.

Living Room owner Elizabeth Young said she had been briefly speechless when, standing in her Halloween costume, she saw Berkus walk into her store and ask if he could film her store for the Oprah Winfrey Show.

“It’s very exciting,” said Young, who believed the spot on the television program would give Troy priceless national attention. “I just hope that it really kind of solidifies us as a wonderful place to come shopping for antiques — a place where the likes of Oprah Winfrey’s interior designer wants to come and shop.”

Young also noted that Berkus’ visit may not have happened if not for Davis’ hard work over the years.

“I think probably the reason that Oprah’s people even knew about having an Antiques District is because of the hard work that Mike Davis has done at Bournebrook Antique Center over the years in really giving the district its own identity in downtown Troy,” said Young. “He has been stalwart and is truly the anchor of the Antiques District.”

Young said she has had similar experiences with television and movie crews looking to purchase items appropriate for projects they are working on and that she had recently rented a large amount of antiques to be used for the HBO mini-series “John Adams.”

“Between my shop and my parents’ store, we rented them about 80 percent of the furniture that you saw in that mini-series,” said Young, who said she had also recently supplied antiques to the production of “Revolutionary Road,” starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. “You’d be surprised how many movies actually come upstate to rent antiques.”

Young’s mother, Christine, who owns the Antiques Warehouse with her husband, Norman, said that her family and their shops had received an on-screen credit for their work on “John Adams,” with the set designer taking home an Emmy award for the design and prop selection on the series, and that she hoped Troy would be mentioned more than a few seconds on Monday’s episode.“

I think Oprah has a tremendous audience and really influences people and what they do, so just highlighting the Antiques District and downtown Troy in general is a big plus,” said Christine Young. “Plus, I think that anything that can bring more people into downtown Troy is a tremendous bonus.”

She went on to explain that even though her family had been working with television shows and movies for more than 20 years, this was the first time she had sent out a mass e-mail to all of her customers telling them to watch a television show.

“It’s a little bit of Hollywood here in Troy, New York,” said her daughter, Elizabeth.The episode will air Monday, Nov. 24, at 4 p.m. on WNYT-Channel 13.

Oprah Winfrey is recommending downtown Troy as the place to shop this year! They were filming the area on Halloween, mostly in the antiques district, and the spot will be featured on Monday night's show. Holy crap!!! I don't sell antiques here, but the businesses here are all grouped in together so this means an amazing opportunity for all of us. How cool!