CobWeb Antiques opened its doors at 60 Main Street, the former location of Buy Again Alley, on Sunday, Oct. 26. Owners Gary and Jill DeVoe of New Haven have long dreamed of running their own antique store, and they’ve finally found the spot to showcase the carefully curated collection they’ve built over the years.
The shop has a large front window overlooking Main Street, rows of vintage license plates lining the molding and wooden cabinets filled with the DeVoes’ collection: coins, glass apothecary bottles and many other timeworn treasures.
Gary spoke fondly of the space, recalling how he first walked past it about a year ago with his daughter and noticed the “For Sale” sign out front.
“It’s got that tin ceiling, and this is perfect for an antique store,” Gary said.
The DeVoes are originally from Florida, but Gary has been visiting Vermont since he was a kid.
“So during the summertime, I used to come up here around was like 13, 14, 15. And we travel all over, you know, this area, Middlebury,” Gary said.
Gary remembers spending time browsing classic antique shops around Vermont as a child. His family operated a car business in Florida, and he spent about 30 years working there in auto sales before selling his shares of the company to his brother and moving to Vermont with Jill and their children.
“There's a picture of me around the corner there, coming out of an antique store in White River Junction in 1970, and I'm carrying one of those phonographs. I always wanted to have an antique store, and I've been in them all my life. And I met all different people that ran antique stores,” Gary said.
Jill also spoke about the couple’s passion for antiques, explaining that they had originally planned to open the store in a barn on their New Haven property.
“We met in Florida, and we moved up here planning to open the antique store in our barn,” Jill said. “It’s a big dairy barn, and we had all these showcases and the desk and everything set up in there.”
Ultimately, zoning regulations made that plan impossible, which led them to their Middlebury location.
Jill described the joy of opening CobWeb Antiques, noting that restoring the contents of the store was a process that made realizing her husband’s dream especially rewarding.
“So all this furniture has been sitting in there for 22 years. When we decided to do this I just took that furniture oil and, you know, brought them back to life,” Jill said. “Just to nurture his dream and to see this all come to fruition has been really exciting.”
The DeVoes spoke fondly about their customer base so far, sharing that it is a steady mix of local residents, college students, general tourists and passersby.
“Its been every age group, every state,” Jill said. “Some people come in and breeze through and leave, and others will spend quite a bit of time.”
The DeVoes intend to operate the shop on their own, without additional staff.
“You could call it the Mom and Pop antique store,” Jill said.
Gary showed a book filled with signed cabinet cards featuring names like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Charlie Chaplin and even all four of The Beatles members. He’s spent years building the collection, finding pieces online and through eBay.
There is a homey and welcoming vibe to CobWeb Antiques which appeals to a wide variety of customers, according to Eliza Cho ’27. She recalled walking into the store with her mom just after the shop’s opening.
“It felt like stepping into a secret museum, full of endless possibilities for discovery and connection. I started flipping through a pile of old license plates and found a few Vermont vanity plates that read ‘MFH.’ As a member of Middlebury Field Hockey, I couldn’t not buy them — it felt almost eerily perfect,” Cho wrote to The Campus. “I think that shop has the potential to become one of those local treasures that reveal something special about everyone who walks through its doors.”
As the DeVoes continue to settle into their new space, CobWeb Antiques has already begun to weave itself into the fabric of downtown Middlebury. For Gary and Jill, what began as a decades-old dream has become a place that brings the past to life for those who stop by.
Izzy Ronda '26 (she/her) is a Local Editor.
Izzy is a local editor for the campus. She is majoring in English with a double minor in Italian and Political Science. Outside of The Campus, Izzy is a member of the Middlebury Women's Squash Team and a contributing writer for Clover Magazine. This past summer Izzy worked as a reinsurance broking intern at a company in New York City.
