Brass Lantern owner Lois Anne Cataldo, center, enjoys the party with Margie Rhodes, left to right, her daughter Lydia McManmon, granddaughter Taylor Kurilew and Jill Richards at the Metuchen shop. METUCHEN — Stepping inside the Brass Lantern this time of year, one is struck with the aura of festivities to come.
A mainstay in Metuchen for 40 years, the store hosted its annual Halloween party on Oct. 23, with costumes galore, witches, goblins, pumpkins and more.
Lois Anne Cataldo, owner of the Brass Lantern, said the store’s name does not have much to do with its offerings. The name started out as a joke, she said.
“I joked with the woman I opened the store with that if I sold the brass lantern at the antique show we were at then, that is what we should name the business,” she said.
Cataldo said they started out by selling antiques and country items.
“Gradually, we changed as the pace changed,” she said. “We are an old-fashioned department store.”
Offering gifts for weddings, women’s clothing, handmade jewelry and accessories, nursery items, knitting items, pantry items, gourmet food baskets, ornaments, seasonal decorations and keepsakes for Christmas and special events, the Brass Lantern provides an oldworld charm in a world that has become about more generic, big-box stores.
“We decorate the store for every season,” Cataldo said, adding that they hold special events from tea parties to their annual parties for Halloween and Christmas.
Metuchen resident Lynda Wonski said she and her family have decided to do all their Christmas shopping this year in downtown Metuchen, starting at the Brass Lantern, where her daughter works.
“We want to promote the downtown shopping area,” she said, adding that she feels that the Brass Lantern is the “gem” of Metuchen.
Brass Lantern is located at 418 Main St., where it moved from another location in Metuchen last year. According to Cataldo, people travel to the Brass Lantern from all over the state, including those who had moved out the borough and still visit to the store.
For more information, call 732- 548-5442 or visit www.brasslanternstore.com.