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closeBYRON — Where can you find Burl Ives records, hand-carved tables, Coca-Cola memorabilia and pottery, all under one roof? It is all available for sale at the Big Peach Antiques Mall in Byron.
Owner John R. Harley Jr. opened the mall 14 months ago after the building had been closed for nearly two years.
“I wanted this to be dealer friendly,” said Harley, a dealer himself.
And it seems that has worked for him since he has no more free space to lease to potential dealers. He has about 160 sellers, with an average booth size of about 70 square feet.
“They are hobbyists,” Harley said. “They like selling something, so they can go out and buy more little treasures to sell.”
Harley doesn’t have any experience running his own business, but, he said, it was something he always wanted to do. Previously, he was in the ad marketing and writing business.
Two antique stores have taken up residence at the mall: Juicy Junk and Mosaic Turtle.
Mosaic Turtle used to be located in Perry on Carroll Street. Owner Diane Brannen moved from the Perry address to the mall almost a year ago. Within a week, items that hadn’t sold in Perry sold at the mall, she said.
Cindy Collier owns Juicy Junk as well as Carrie Lynn’s Antiques in Perry. She said the stores are totally different.
“They each have a distinct personality,” Collier said.
The mall started feeling the economic pinch over the past three months as sales dropped about 10 percent, Harley said, but it still sees foot traffic.
“We get about 300 people a day on the weekends,” he said.
The dealers “understand the drawing power of … a huge icon,” Harley said of the big peach that can be seen from Interstate 75.
More than 51,000 people drive down Interstate 75 in Peach County each day, according to the state Department of Transportation.
“I want to try to get some of that business,” Collier said.
Collier said she is “very pleased” with her new location.
She stresses that in antiques, more is better to prompt people to stop and shop.
“We have found that the antique business hasn’t been hurt (by the economic downturn) as much,” Collier said. In her Perry location, she said she is ahead of where she was last year in revenues.
There is a lot of potential for growth in Byron, Harley said. He sees the city as “gaining momentum.”
Georgia Bob’s opened a few months ago, the Peach Outlet Mall has added a few shops and Montana’s Steakhouse will open soon.
The location of the business is what Harley attributes to the success of the mall.
“Its right off the interstate,” he said. Plus, “it’s a store unlike any other place in Georgia.”
To contact writer Angela Woolen, call 923-5650.
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