"If I told my son that I bought something nice at a yard sale or used-clothing shop, he wouldn't wear it." That is what Tina Love and Amy Zehner, owners of Momma's Lil' Secret, said to explain their store's unusual name.

Tamaqua Chamber of Commerce members, as well as family members and friends were all on hand during the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the new shop. The shop, located at 101 East Broad St. in Tamaqua, is situated at a corner of the Five Points intersection (SR309 and SR209) and occupies what used to be the Company Store, aka Flat Iron Building.Tina and Amy both stated they wanted to do something different and decided on opening this used children's shop to offer discounted brand name clothing and other items.Amy is the wife of Shawn Zehner and together they have three children, Devon, Nicholas and Alex.Tina is the wife of George Love and they have two children, Jake and Brittany.In addition to a large selection of confectionary sweets, the shop's large inventory offers used brand name clothing, baby items, candles, primitive decor, fashion jewelry, purses, country furnishings, gifts balloons and much more.Tina said, "In these tough times, people need a place to go to buy well-known and name-brand clothing." Adding, "Even though we advertise used-clothing, a lot of our inventory was probably never worn or still has the original price tag on it."The large confectionary section of the store, called Sandy's Candy, is co-occupied and operated by Stephanie Gerhard, of Barnesville, who is also well-known for her large candy stand at the Hometown Farmer's Market. Gerhard stated that she offers free candy delivery to both the ABC High-Rise and Majestic House.Amy said, "New items are arriving every week," pointing out that they also take clothing requests and also buy items in addition to selling them. People are encouraged to bring in items, such as name brand children's clothing, baby furnishings, maternity clothes, shoes, coats and so on. All dropped-off items must be freshly laundered and in excellent condition. They also must be placed in totes or boxes and be labeled with a name and phone number of the person who dropped-off the clothing.They will then go through the items and offer a fair price on what was dropped off. People are required to call before dropping off any items. Their hours are Tuesday thru Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The shop can be reached at (570) 668-1126, via email at

mommaslilsecret@verizon.net or on Facebook.