About
A Little Vintage. A Little Unexpected. A Lot to Discover.
The Rusty Goat Exchange is a local, family owned shop in Hubertus, Wisconsin, where home décor, vintage finds, furniture, collectibles, clothing, accessories, and unique pieces all come together under one roof.
We’re not a traditional resale store. We’re not quite an vintage/antique store. And we’re definitely not a big-box thrift store.
We’re something a little different.
Meet Ward & Katie
The People Behind The Rusty Goat
Ward: For most of my life, I’ve had a passion for finding affordable, quality things that could still be repaired, reused, or resold. I’ve always had a hard time seeing something worthwhile be tossed simply because it was old, broken, or no longer needed. I guess you could say I’ve lived by a pretty simple philosophy: "If you don’t have it, find it used. If it's broken, repair it. If you don’t need it, sell it.”
While The Rusty Goat may have started with my love of the industry, it has very much become something Katie and I share.
Katie works full-time as a nurse, but somehow still finds the time to be an important part of what happens behind the scenes at the store. She helps clean, sort, and price the seemingly endless stream of inventory that comes through our doors.
But where Katie really shines is in how everything comes together.
She has an incredible eye for staging—combining pieces in ways that make them look great together while keeping the store organized and easy to shop. It's one of the reasons you'll often find a piece of furniture surrounded by décor that makes you stop and imagine how it could look in your own home.
How The Rusty Goat Began
A few years ago, I was hired to clean out the lower level of a longtime family-run business. There were three areas, totalling nearly 10,000 square feet, filled with things the family had collected for decades.
As I started going through it all, I just couldn’t bring myself to throw away so many perfectly good—and often really interesting—things. So I didn’t.
I donated what I could, I shared things with family and friends, and I sold a few things to offset the cost of the cleanout. I recycled what couldn’t be saved, and I stored some of the best pieces in my warehouse for another day.
So here I am, sitting on a mountain of really cool stuff. Now what? In late 2025 and ealy 2026 an opportunity came along to lease a storefront right across the street from my warehouse at a price that made taking the chance possible.
The Rusty Goat Exchange was born.
Charitable Partnerships
Giving Back, The Rusty Goat Way
Because of the way we acquire inventory, we often aquire far more than what makes sense to sell in our store. But just because something isn't right for The Rusty Goat doesn't mean it isn't valuable to someone else.
So we try to find where it can do the most good.
Helping Local Families
We work one-on-one with local families in need by supplying essential household items. In most cases, families and or individuals, prefer to keep this private. When appropriate, and with permission from the families, we will do a small post on social media.
Supporting Our Local Schools
School supplies are gathered and stored all year then donated in August to Family Promise of Washington County.
Clothing That Goes Where It's Needed
We partner with a team of like-minded local resellers to collect gently used clothing for Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge, a volunteer-run organization providing clothing, bedding, shoes, food, hygiene supplies, and other support to people experiencing homelessness and others in need in the Milwaukee area.