Local Antique Store Shutting its Doors

Wooden Horse Antiques, located at 12 Park Ave., will be closing its doors at the end of this month, after being open for a year and a half.  Owned by husband and wife Chris and Phil Nilsen, the store sells antique furniture, glass, porcelain, pottery, art and jewelry.

"Wooden Horse is closing because unfortunately there was not enough traffic to warrant staying open," says Chris Nilsen. "It just wasn't practical."

Although she and her husband will continue to sell antiques at their online store, rubylane.com, she says they will miss the Madison store: "It's so nice having face-to-face contact with people, and you obviously don't get that selling online. We'll miss that a lot. We loved the business and are sad to go."

All remaining items in the store are now 70 percent off their original prices, with all sales final.

"We'll be here until the end of the month, but the last couple days we'll probably just be clearing out the store space and getting it ready for the next tenants, says Nilsen. "We'll see how it goes."

The couple, who live in Madison, have a long history in antiques. They have been selling them for more than 20 years, mostly at other stores where they rented space and at antique shows. And although they will still be selling online, Nilsen says they won't return to the antique-show circuit, because "it was just way too much work."

All the items available at Wooden Horse come from estate sales and auctions, as well as from people coming into the store to sell their personal antiques. Nilsen says the most popular pieces were vintage prints and engravings, and antique artwork and glassware.

Asked what her favorite item ever sold at the store was, Nilsen laughs: "There are so many! But I would have to say antique pre-silver coins from the civil-war era. I loved researching those."