8D
Monday, August 19, 1996
OUT & ABOUT
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Antique store has a little bit of everything
Items at mall tell the stories of days that have come and gone
By Matt Kennedy Special to the Kansas
Walking into the Antique Mall of Lawrence is like walking into grandma's house.
A six-foot tall oak cabinet holds a set of fine, ivory-colored china, old Life magazines are stacked neatly on a bookshelf; porcelain plates and figurines are everywhere. You almost expect to smell apple pie baking in the kitchen.
The mall at 830 Massachusetts St. is a return to a simpler time, said Nancy Sliker, an antique dealer at the mall for the past six years.
Larry and Gwen Billings, Lawrence residents, have owned the two-story mall for four years, renting booths to about 50 dealers who carried a variety of items such as clothing, furniture, coins and even antique fishing lures. Gwen Billings said.
Billings said that the mall had a diverse clientele, from professional antique hunters to young, fashion-conscious students.
"We have many young people come in looking for clothes with the retro look to them." Billings said.
Silker said people treated the mall as a museum, a second-hand store or just a place to escape the summer heat. But whatever their reason for entering the store, many become customers before leaving.
Memorabilia from the different time periods remind shoppers of days past. In one booth, people can hear speeches from up-and-coming politicians such as a feisty Harry S. Truman or Dwight Eisenhower.
In another booth, sports fans can read about a talented new Baltimore Orioles third baseman named Brooks Robinson who is surprising the baseball world.
Jim and Shelah Wisler's booth has an assortment of books, antique pottery and Oriental art. One item is a $950 Oriental coffee table with a painting of a man gazing up at the sky as a dragon flies overhead.
Keith and Dennis Oakley's coin display features
Tea pots from the turn of the centurv are available at the Antioque Mall. 830 Massachusetts St.
Matt Peters
Wichita senior
Parm Dishman/KANSAN
U. S. and foreign coins dating back to 1828. The 1 cent coins from that era are worth more than toady's pennies, many valued at $5 to $25.
Matt Peters, Wichita sophomore, said he was in the mall to find old, wooden furniture that he could restore.
"I've never bought anything in here, but one of these days I'll find a great piece," he said.
Like the coins and newly restored furniture, many items in the mall could tell some incredible stories if only they could talk.
One such example is the 1939 Hornby miniature train priced at $650 in Sliker's booth. The train was the last model made by the Hornby Company prior to World War II, and this particular train was purchased by a young British soldier who gave it to his son before leaving for the war.
"That young soldier never saw his son or the train again because he died somewhere on the battlefields." Sliker said.
The train now is owned by a couple selling it in the mall to help renav college loans.
Items such as the train are why Sliker worked at the mall, she said, dealing in antiques and collectibles because she wanted to save things from disappearing from the face of the earth.
Bonnie Aoki, Lawrence resident, has worked five years at the mall and said she enjoyed the job's stress-free atmosphere while continuing to do what
she loves—collecting antiques.
Snowdean Arnold, DeSoto resident, has been selling her jewelry and antique dolls in the mall since its inception six years ago.
"I started in a corner of the basement and then moved upstairs about two years ago," Arnold said.
Arnold has a variety of gold, silver and costume jewelry ranging from $30 to one piece of platinum jewelry priced at $1.500.
One customer, Marietta Copeland, DeSoto teacher and antique collector, said she didn't get a chance to come to the mall as often as wanted. When she did stop by, she always seemed to find something that
piqued her interest, she said, purchasing collectibles from the mall such as dishes and linens.
Jill Thompson, Wichita resident, said she visited the mall every time she was in town.
"I am involved in Civil War re-enactment, and the mall is a good place to find things from the 1860s that I can use," she said.
Not everything in the mall is nostalgic. Many items on display may tell stories of the future, such as a baseball bat priced at $200 and autographed by Frank Thomas, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox, or an autographed picture of Kansas City Chiefs running back Greg Hill for $25.
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