New life given to former Copps store on Church Street

By Brandi Makuski

Though it’s not much to look at from the outside, a new antique mall on the south side of Stevens Point is filled with treasurers one could spend hours investigating.

The space has a lot of vintage 1950s items for sale, along with old beer signs, vintage and repurposed furniture, jewelry and various knick-knacks from yesteryear.

Antique Up, which opened Aug. 11, fills the retail space in the front of the former Copps building on Church St., which sat vacant for several years after the grocery store relocated. The new business is co-owned by Jamie White and situated in the same building as a new self-service storage facility, also owned by White.

“Some of our vendors use that as storage and keep some of their overstock in there,” said manager Bailey Miner. “They can be in here visiting with customers, then see something sold and go back to their unit and bring something back up to replace it.”

The store has 62 booths –with plans to build more — rented monthly by vendors who sell a variety of wares, Miner said, who added customers won’t find secondhand couches or racks of clothing: items for sale must meed with review to ensure they’re appropriate for the space, and vendors need to have their applications approved by store staff before they can sell.

“We’ve had vendors signed up since June or July,” Miner said, who added new vendors take out applications almost daily. “All our booths filled up within the first month.”

Miner said vendors are typically small businesses selling antiques or refurbished items, though some individuals with large collections have also rented space. The business does not sell items on consignment, she said.

“You need to have your own booth,” Miner said, who explained once an application for vendor space is approved, the business takes a six percent fee of all sales. “We may do consignment in the future, but right now, there’s no place to put consignment items.”

Miner said the business often publishes teaser photos of each booth to its Facebook page, where it will continue to update customers on new items. Currently, the business is open 9 AM to 5 PM Thurs. through Fri., and 10 AM to 4 PM on Saturdays, but plans to expand those hours in September.

“If someone’s driving by and maybe they’re not sure what’s in here, I would tell them we always make sure our customers see new things so they keep coming back,” Miner said.

Anitque Up in located at 3256 Church Street.