Unique Antique Shop Holds New Hartford Grand Opening This week

A rather unique antique store is officially opening with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday morning in the village of New Hartford.

Handshake Antiques, located at 66 Genesee Street in New Hartford, will officially open at 10 a.m. with an official ceremony with the Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce. The store is owned by Angelo DiGiorgio, a former producer at Utica's Townsquare Media, who graduated from Utica's Proctor High School in 2019.

"When I was in high school, I was once asked to leave study hall to visit an estate sale a few blocks from Proctor High School (where I later graduated in 2019) to purchase an item for one of my teachers. That small errand sparked something unexpected. I was immediately hooked. I had begun collecting vinyl records a few years prior, drawn to the music my parents grew up with. That interest soon expanded into pop culture, then fashion, art, and design. Before I knew it, I was moving to Chicago to finish my education—packing my life into a box truck alongside a collection of rotary phones and Bakelite flatware," said DiGiorgio.

While he lived in the Windy City, he worked for a large estate sale company in the northern suburbs, gaining hands-on experience in the business and deepening his appreciation for well-curated vintage goods. After completing his education, he decided to return home to Utica to start his own business. He named it Handshake Antiques as both an homage to Utica’s rich history—a city he says he "loves deeply" and with the concept "of doing business with honesty, integrity, and a handshake," he says. "Your word still means something here."

Handshake Antiques features vinyl records, artwork, vintage fashion, jewelry, barware, lighting, and more. My goal is to create a destination—not a junk shop—where vintage feels approachable, stylish, and relevant.

"Vintage is in… and really, it never left," DiGiorgio says.

"What makes Handshake Antiques special is how local it truly is. Everything in the shop is sourced locally, and I follow one simple rule: if I’m going to sell it, it has to be old. This is a place where someone can sell an item they forgot about in their attic and then see a neighbor using it as décor on their porch the very next week," he said.

He repeatedly says, "This isn’t your grandmother’s antique shop." But there's a good chance you might just see something that used to sit on a shelf in your grandmother's china cabinet.

Handshake Antiques opens at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.