Schoolhouse Mall

4 floors of old stuff in an old schoolhouse. Not to many actual antiques. Worth a look around.

I love antique stores. I love browsing through them and seeing the history of the objects within. While I was in prairie du chien for a job interview I went across the Mississippi and saw this wonderful, very cool, old school house with a banner draped across the front reading «antiques» So naturally, I turned immediately and went in.
The size of this place is overwhelming. 3 (four if you count their «basement») floors packed full of room after room of antiques. The inventory is very diverse. I mostly look for books and records, and this place was not that great for books but there were 1 or 2 booths that had a few good finds. There was 1 booth FULL of old records that I am sure is full of gems if someone has 2 hours to look through them all.
But overall this place was good to pass a few hours if you like going to antique stores. I went there twice in two days to really see everything and ended up buying a few things. It seems pretty reasonably priced, but as prices are set by the booth owners themselves, the prices vary quite a bit.
Great place though. If you like antiques and live in the area, go immediately.

Huge antique store in which just about anyone could find something to purchase. There are about 3 floors in this old school house all in which is filled with merchandise (in most of the rooms anyway). I am not too interested in the china that they have there but there is plenty of it. When it comes to china the closest thing that I go for is Murano Art Glass made in Italy and for some strange reason in Iowa there does not seem to be much of it sold. I found a few pieces here but not as much as one may suspect in a place this large.
The two things that I really liked about this place though is that they had copious amounts of movies to go through. Most of them are on VHS but you know what if you take really good care of you VHS tapes they really do last a long time. So these things were a find for sure. Another gem of a find is that i found comic books from the 1980’s from Marvel. Granted I did have to sadly give up this hobby due to cost I was fascinated to fine a small box of comics by some shelves to check out and the prices were very reasonable. That leads me to my next point. some of the prices in this place I felt were very reasonable while other items on the other hand I really felt were overpriced (ex. movie posters). This place is definitely worth browsing through though but be prepared to not be in a hurry to go anywhere, there is lots of merchandise to check out!

A three floor antique mall created from a converted schoolhouse.
Since it’s composed of myriad booths (for the less knowledgable antiques shopper, booths are when a dealer rents a space monthly in a mall and sells their wares, whilst paying a reasonable monthly rental fee) you find diverse styles and treasures. I’ve seen tons of random, interesting goods from: McCoy pottery, Flow Blue China, carnival glass, Swanky Swigs, ancient comics (from Archies to Superman), Queen Anne furniture, Victorian furniture, hand sewn quilts, ornate mirrors, old photos, sports memorabilia, old school Disney stuff, old school college stuff, first edition books, and absurd tchotchkes.
I’ve found myself pleasantly lost, navigating the nooks and crannies of the mall, absorbed with interest in the nostalgic merchandise. I personally found some bargains, having purchased in three visits, a 40’s era black lace cocktail dress ($ 16), a 60’s flowy, white lace, wedding dress ($ 18), and some first edition, naturally hardcover, Nancy Drews from the 40’s ($ 4). If you like the vintage clothes, I tried them on in the public restroom, on the 2^nd floor, I think. Besides the womens clothes, they had some cool old menswear formal gear and bowler hats, fedoras, and forties toppers for women, and kids christening gowns.
The checkout is at the entrance, there is one register, but no wait.
If you are ever in the area, between camping out or hiking or fishin’ and widdlin’ check it out for the bargains and much lower than Cook County sales tax.