Antique Mall a 'Rare Business Success'

co-owner Jim Conway calls the venture a “rare business success” amid a struggling economy.

Since , the Powder Springs business—which has space for 250 booths, plus room to expand—has filled 130 of them with 90 vendors.

“We’re making very rapid progress,” said Conway, who runs the mall with his wife, Sheila. “We’re actually ahead of schedule.”

The Conways, a Roswell couple, will be welcomed to the area at 11 a.m. Saturday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony from the West Cobb Business Association. Anyone is welcome to attend, and light refreshments will be available.

“Treasure Hunt offers a unique shopping experience to West Cobbers, as we now have a choice of decorating options versus everyone having the same decorations because we shopped at big chains,” business association President Krystine Torella said. 

“WCBA is proud of and excited for all the new businesses that are opening in West Cobb,” she added. “We have had three ribbon-cutting ceremonies in the last 30 days—signs of a change in the West Cobb economy.”

But Conway said he and his wife’s venture, which included the purchase of the entire 15-space West Cobb Plaza, goes beyond Treasure Hunt and is about the “bigger picture”—saving the retail center as a whole. 

With no anchor tenant and only seven of 15 spaces occupied, West Cobb Plaza was one of hundreds of “zombie shopping centers” around the country, Conway said.

“You can write the same story 100 times,” he said. 

Many of these unoccupied retail centers were originally constructed for smaller-sized grocery stores to be the anchor tenants, Conway said. But, he added, the market has drifted towards bigger grocery stores and even bigger Wal-Marts and Targets, leaving the vacant strips behind.

West Cobb Plaza, though, has been growing since Treasure Hunt moved in and renovations to the whole center were complete, Conway said. An EMT school has since opened up, and a barbecue restaurant, Slab Master, is set to open its doors Friday. (Patch will be previewing the restaurant later this week.) 

“The fact that it’s an antique mall is secondary,” Conway said. “What’s first is reviving the vesting as a whole.”

Treasure Hunt Antique Mall is at 3217 New Macland Road. The Conways are set to host a yard sale, when vendors will be set up in the parking lot, from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 21. Then, on July 22 from 1 to 5 p.m., the Powder Springs Push Rods will be showing off their classic cars in the parking lot. Both events are free.

Those interested in being a vendor of the mall should call 678-398-9195, while those looking to lease  should call 770-591-0078.

Find out more about more about the antique mall in .

Have you been treasure hunting yet? Tell us what you bought in the comments.

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