After nearly 30 years in business, Treasure Aisles has expanded to a second location. The new antique mall—named Treasure Aisles II and located next door to its existing building—opened on June 1, doubling the size of the business from 13,000 to 26,000 square feet.
Owner Chuck Campbell has loved antiquing since he was a kid accompanying his parents on shopping trips. His passion grew into a business–the Treasure Aisles Antique Mall on Big Bend Boulevard–which features approximately 75 unique vendors. Treasure Aisles II will now share a parking lot with the original location. It will add an additional 75 vendors, each of whom has been selected from a waiting list of more than 350 candidates. After three decades in business, Campbell still loves what he does for a living. He says: “I’m one of the few people that actually enjoys going to work every day.”
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Why is now the right time to expand? Well, the right time to expand I guess is when it hits you. The people that were [in the new space] decided to close and retire, and I knew the building really well. I had a chance years ago to expand over there and I turned it down because I was just so busy at this mall. But now that I have such good help, and it’s been working out really well, we went ahead and expanded. Also, we have 350 [vendors] on a waiting list. It was a no-brainer to fill it up.
What was in the new space? It was an antique mall just like we are. They had a lot of furniture and other items.
Did you need to do any major renovations to the space? We did a lot of cleaning up—some painting, but mostly dumpster work. We filled about four or five dumpsters to get rid of stuff. The booths were already there, so we were lucky enough to have those.
How long did it take to get Treasure Aisles II ready for customers? Just a month. We’ve been hustling! We got in there with a bunch of people and got it all going. The City of Maplewood has been very cooperative; we know some people who came and inspected everything, and we moved up from there.
What kind of inventory can visitors expect to find? We ask everyone that joins the waiting list what kind of [inventory] they have, and then we go through the list to get different things. So every vendor will be different, and they have some really nice stuff. When you come in, you might not like one booth, and then the next five booths you might really like. As far as variety, there are thousands and thousands of items to choose from.
Have you noticed an increase in people buying secondhand and vintage? It’s always been really good, but I think lately it’s been even better.
What’s the secret to Treasure Aisles’ longevity? We have a really good set of dealers here. And we have very friendly help. I think everybody that works here enjoys what they do, and when you have a better disposition with people, that makes a big difference and keeps you going.
