Meet the Owner: Diane Sullivan

To walk into in Shakopee is to walk back in time. An old curio cabinet from the 1920s sits in the corner, dishes with intricate designs are on tables and chunky cameras decorate shelves. To Sullivan, each item represents a glimpse of the past. 

“I have always loved old things,” Sullivan says. “Every piece in here has a story and it’s part of the reason why I have been intrigued by antiques for my whole life.”

Constructed in 1890, Sullivan’s shop is one of the oldest buildings in Shakopee. This mother of three gutted the building near city hall in 1993. She rents space to 10 vendors that make up the eclectic mix of antiques in her shop and loves to talk about antiques as much as she likes selling them.

“Through the years I’ve learned so much about different pieces,” Sullivan said.  “I don’t feel like I’m working when I’m dealing with antiques and I think that is the reason I love it as much as I do.”

While Sullivan loves all things old, she is partial to one thing: cookie jars. “When my son was little we used to make cookies all the time and it didn’t seem right to put them in Tupperware so I bought a unique cookie jar,” she said. “Then I bought another one, and another one.” Now, 24 years later, her cookie jar collection is quite impressive. 

“People have come from other states just to see my cookie jar collection,” she said. Like many of the other pieces in her shop, each of her 150 cookie jars has a story. “That cookie jar was a wedding gift, that one came from Branson, Missouri, that one my aunt gave me,” Sullivan said as she pointed to cookies jars that line shelves all around her shop.

After decades in the business, Sullivan is no longer surprised when a customer says they’ve come from out of town. “It doesn’t strike me as odd at all,” she said. “People make trips just to check out antiques all the time and that includes trips to Shakopee.”

Customers like Kay Lee Henderson did just that. “I actually came to this store about 15 years ago and I’ve been meaning to come back for years,” she said. “So today I hopped in the car and came down from Brooklyn Park.”

For Sullivan her antiques aren’t just the past, they’re her future as well. “I don’t plan on going anywhere.” She plans on spending another two decades as Shakopee’s local antiques dealer.