Brad Fortney said he sees himself as part shop owner, part museum curator.

The owner of Fortney Home said if his store was a museum exhibit, the theme would be “wonderful finds,” including everything from giraffe and gorilla figurines greeting customers outside to steer skulls mounted on the walls.

Fortney’s eye for these items has created a uniquely Austin shopping experience in on West Sixth Street for 22 years, but on Dec. 31, he will say goodbye to the city and move his store to Nacogdoches.

Fortney’s roots are in East Texas. He opened a store in Nacogdoches in the 1970s selling records and tapes, and later moved into the furniture business before relocating to Austin.

“I’ve been intending to go back for a long time, but I just kept procrastinating. This has been a lot of fun, people from all over the world have shopped here,” he said.

Fortney Home opened in 1996 in a building on West Sixth Street that used to house a grocery store. Over the course of two decades in Austin, the furniture store evolved into what it is today–a description-defying collection of items. It’s not an antique store, not quite a home furnishings store.

“My favorite description of the store—which people appreciate—is its organized lack of focus,” Fortney said.

The items do not come from one particular source—when customers ask Fortney where he gets his products, he gives a different answer every time. Not because it’s a secret, but because over the course of decades in the business there’s no easy answer.

“What I try to do is keep being unique, and it’s harder and harder to do,” Fortney said.

Fortney said he is not being pushed out, but simply saw an opportunity to move back east when he reached the end of his tenant lease. Even though the choice was a long time coming, Fortney said it won’t be easy to say goodbye.

“So many people would say ‘I love this store,’ and with all sincerity I’d say, ‘It loves you back,’” he said.