Iconic Edmonton antique store up for sale in Old Strathcona

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The old Strathcona antique shopping mall is about to be sold as the current owner is ready to quit after more than a decade of taking the helm.

But customers can comfort themselves because it is not the end of the old Strathcona antique shopping mall, but just changes hands. Bobbi Weibel, the store’s co-owner, said she looks forward to being with the kids and staying away from the store after 16 years of business.

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“My kids are always second, and it’s time for me to put them first.”

Weibel said her mom and companion owner Betty Reitan had always wanted to retire at 65, which she did last year. Now, she looks forward to retirement with her husband.

Weibel and Reitan first purchased the store after first serving as suppliers at the location where their former United Sport and Cycle are currently sitting 16 years ago.

“I just finished business school and mom said, ‘Hey, how do you think of an antique shop?’”

The idea of ​​Weibo came to the idea that the small town antique shop was full of all rural communities and wondered what she could “manage” in this small store. When the lease expired at the mall’s former location, Weibel and Reitan purchased it and planned to move it elsewhere.

Their search for new homes proved invalid, but it was Manchester United’s cycle that provided a way for malls to return home.

“The combined loop is actually approaching us in February a month after we closed down and said, ‘How do you think about going back to the old Strathcona area?”’

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Weibel and Reitan took the opportunity to set up the store shortly after 10323 78 Ave., which Weibel said was key to the store atmosphere.

“It’s absolutely important to the area. I think the antique mall, it suits the atmosphere in the community. Our staff, most of them live within walking distance, a lot of customers come here and then they have lunch or dinner at Whyte Avenue,” Weibel said.

“It’s an iconic location.”

Webel said Covid-19 raised the biggest challenge when they were running the business, but it also brought a glimmer of hope.

“I think it’s driving people to really focus on supporting locally and buying locally,” she said.

Efforts to buy local purchases have also soared to the highest month of sales on record since U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.

“I think people really put their money in a big position and support Canadian businesses,” she said.

Looking back, she recalls the shopping malls in Canada’s amazing competition and filmed some Hallmark movies in the store.

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“It’s so cool to see your business on a small screen,” Weibel said.

The store consists of 130 suppliers and has more than 60 vendors on the waitlist, earning a coveted location within the mall.

“It’s a good time now, I want to retire, I want to spend more time with my kids, and it’s a good time for others.”

The store is listed for $500,000 and will remain open when looking for a new owner, but Weibel hopes to walk away in the summer. Meanwhile, she thanks the city for its role in making the business successful.

“Thanks to Edmonton and its surrounding areas, because without customers, without our staff, without suppliers, that would be impossible.”

“Betty and I, when we bought it, it couldn’t overwhelm its ability. We thought we were buying a store, but it did become an institution.”

zdelaney@postmedia.com

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