Antique Dealers Find a New Home at 31st Street Antiques

When the Jackson Square Antique Mall in La Grange closed last summer to make way for a condominium project, many antique dealers were displaced. Some moved to the La Grange Park Antique Mall, but it soon closed unexpectedly. The dealers then found a new location at 31st Street Antiques at 9046 31st St. in Brookfield.

The new owners of 31st Street Antiques, Todd Soliday, Kim Crivello, and Kathy DiModica, collaborated with Nancy Lisowski, who managed La Grange Park Antiques for four years. Soliday explained, “She was stepping down, and she was going to be retiring.” This transition prompted Soliday and his partners to consider launching a new venture.

Soliday, with a background in real estate, began looking for suitable commercial properties. He remarked, “I was like, hey, we can do this.” Kim Crivello, with experience from Vintage Design Mart, joined and helped organize the team. So far, 31st Street Antiques has attracted 32 vendors, who pay rent and a 15% commission on sales. The store opened recently after extensive renovations handled by the owners themselves, including electrical work by Crivello’s husband, without hiring contractors.

Soliday has a display booth called Antiques Rewound, while Crivello’s booth, Pretty Creepy Things, focuses on medical oddities, including a human skull. Nancy Lisowski, owner of Budget Box resale store since 1952, helped launch the new store. She mentioned, “By purchasing the items they’ve been purchasing for the last 40 years, it’s the same quality of products.” The proceeds now support BEDS Plus, a nonprofit for the unhoused.

Lisowski maintains a space selling resale items and emphasized the collaborative nature of the new business, “This is dealer bought and dealer run.”

Wendi Kunz is a new vendor at 31st Street, operating Wendi’s World, which specializes in midcentury modern glass. Her interest in glassware stems from her grandmother, a Woolworths manager who owned a LE Smith vase, inspiring Kunz’s collection of over 500 vases.

Another vendor, Ellen Vanderhoof, runs the Eclectic Deja Vu booth, offering a mix of ethnic and vintage items, including purses, jewelry, and more.

Hank Beckman, a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press, covers this story.