6-A-September 2016 -New York-Pennsylvania Collector
If One’s Good: Second Location for Ontario Mall Antiques
by Bruce A. Austin
All Photos by A. Sue Weisler
Building on momentum and exploiting success is strategically smart and
tactically significant for entrepreneurs
at every level and for any enterprise.
Since the beginning of the year,
Ontario Mall Antiques’ (OMA) second
location in Irondequoit, New York welcomed dealers, collectors and decorators to its 17,500 square foot space.
Located at 1850 East Ridge Road in
the Rochester suburb, out-of-town visitors will find the large Planet Fitness
marquee a helpful landmark. The antique mall is located behind that, on
the lower level: turn at the traffic signal
at the intersection of Ridge and Brown
Roads.
The new mall features 380 display
cases and 60 floor spaces according to
Mall Manager Bill Guche, who originated OMA in Farmington, N.Y. The new
OMA operation opened with a nearly full house of vendors and five fulltime employees. Both facilities are now
owned by Bill’s son, Matt Guche.
About half the footprint of the original, the physical layout and design for
the Irondequoit location will be familiar to Farmington visitors. There is row
after row of four-foot wide glass fronted display cases, most with four shelves
of merchandise. The space’s perimeter
is populated by floor spaces that mix
furniture, art and lighting with the
“smalls” that might otherwise fill cases.
Both OMA locations have blocked off
the large, display-sized windows that
once formed each one’s façade. The top
half is fitted out with white pegboards
on which vendors display art salonstyle. The lower half, painted “vacation
blue” as described by Bill Guche, accommodates smaller-scale furnishings.
“I’m really happy about the look, the
aesthetics,” said Mr. Guche of the new
OMA location.
Although natural light no longer enters the structure, except at the entrance doors, neither does it fade furniture finishes, paper products or
produce distracting glare. In fact, while
the interior space was under construction and renovation, Guche increased
the amount of lighting by about a third
beyond that originally specified.
Like the original Farmington location, OMA Irondequoit thus far has an
average sale price of $21 for the antiques and collectibles sold there, reports Mr. Guche. Both locations experience very modest turn-over among
exhibiting vendors and most vendors
are part-time dealers. Guche estimates
about five percent of all his dealers are
full-time. Unlike Farmington, though,
thus far the Irondequoit location has
experienced greater sales volume to re-
Exterior view of the entrance to the
new Irondequoit, N.Y. location of
Ontario Mall Antiques. The Mall is
located at 1850 East Ridge Road,
on the lower level and behind Planet
Fitness. (Photo by A. Sue Weisler)
One OMA-Irondequoit dealer’s booth includes floor space with pegboard
space for hanging objects and (not shown in photo) a lighted display case.
The Irondequoit location of Ontario Mall Antiques, like
the original, combines floor spaces that accommodate
furniture with display cases for “smalls.”
tail customers.
What does all this mean? The average sale price suggests an enormous selection of goods at very modest prices.
Note that “average” also means one can
find four-figure prices.
In other words, don’t let the average
figure fool you into thinking “low-end
merch.” For such is certainly not the
case. Visitors can spend pretty much as
much as they’d like.
Because so many exhibitors are parttime dealers, this suggests not only
bargain buyers but also the inclusion
of items directly from estates and other privately held sources. As well, so-
called part-time dealers may be more
prone to frequent restocking of their
inventory.
The absence of dealer “churn” thus
far – now seven months into its business life – is perhaps indicative of dealer (and customer) satisfaction.
And that, so far, there’s been greater retail commerce than from the trade
should be a source of contentment
among the exhibiting dealers and may
be indicative of the store’s novelty; perhaps other dealers have yet to add the
location to their “tour route” when out
picking.
A curious coincidence (it’s near-
ly Jungian synchronicity) between old
and new OMAs is the nearby presence
of a fitness center. When first opened,
the Farmington venue also housed a
fitness center on one side and a pizza
shop on the other, ironic or incongruous as that may seem. Today, the new
OMA in Irondequoit is situated with
a fitness center above and where the
sound of dropping weights punctuates
prowling for antiques below.
Customer satisfaction, Mr. Guche reports, is high. The only complaint he’s
noted is that the floor plan can be a bit
confusing, especially among first-time
visitors.
The Irondequoit OMA, as with the
original, offers merchandise opportunities aplenty to satisfy the serious or the
casual collector’s interests year-round,
indoors, with convenient and immediately adjacent parking.
To stimulate trade and encourage
shoppers to part with hard-earned
cash, OMA accepts credit cards as well
as personal checks, including those
from out of state. Regularly scheduled
sales occur and coupons offering 24
percent discounts can easily be found.
At a time when both co-ops and single owner antiques shops are harder than ever to find, and the number
of antiques shows has withered, OMA’s
venture is a bold one.
The original OMA opened in
December 1992 with a dozen dealers
occupying 2,000 square feet of floor
space at the center of a large U-shaped
structure. Slowly, but inexorably, OMA
expanded in either direction, adding more and more dealers, and drawing increasingly strong levels of interest among customers of every stripe.
Today the Farmington location features 137 floor spaces and more than
600 locked, double glass door showcases.
Continued on Page 12A
12-A-September 2016 -New York-Pennsylvania Collector
Collectors of
Railroadiana
Are Invited to Join
Name This Famous Person
KEY LOCK
& LANTERN
by Mike McLeod
Answer: C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis is known worldwide for
authoring the seven books in The
Chronicles of Narnia series, The
Screwtape Letters (in which a chief
devil Screwtape advises his nephew
Wormwood how to tempt people), The
Great Divorce (people from Hell visit
Heaven), and dozens of other books. A
few things many may not know about
C.S. Lewis include:
*He took on himself the name of
“Jacksie” as a very young child after
his dog was killed by a car. He only
responded to that name and then was
called “Jacks” or “Jack” by his friends
and family for the rest of his life.
*At the age of nine, his mother Flora
died. He was not close with his father.
*At the age of 19 in WWI, he found
himself on the frontlines in the
trenches in France. He was wounded
in three places by shrapnel from
friendly fire, including a piece near
his heart that was not removed until
1944. Two comrades were killed by
the same British shell.
*He and a friend Paddy Moore made
a pact that, if one were killed in the
war, the other would support both
families. C.S. Lewis fulfilled that
promise to Paddy who was killed in
WWI.
*He was close friends with J.R.R.
Tolkien.
*He was elected a Fellow of
Magdalen College, a constituent
college of Oxford, and there he worked
as a tutor in English and literature for
nearly three decades. He was next
elected a Fellow of the Magdalene
College of Cambridge (note the “e” on
the end of Magdalene) where he was
made its first professor of Medieval
and Renaissance Literature.
*He made a vow to give away all
the money he made on his books to
Christian charitable causes, and he
continued to keep that vow even as he
struggled to pay his own bills.
*He had nearly a photographic
memory.
*Lewis did not know how to drive a
car or how to type.
*He converted to atheism and then
years later came back to Christianity.
He was a great defender of, speaker
Credits: cslewis.org; religon.blogs.cnn.com, 12/1/2013; nndb.
com; wikipedia.org; magdalenecambridge.com.
1bbc.com, CS Lewis letter sells for £4,600 at auction,” December 18, 2014.
Second Location for Ontario Mall
Continued from Page 6A
Unlike the original, located on a busy
highway leading to the vacation destination at Canandaigua Lake or the
business route of the New York State
Thruway, the Irondequoit location requires an intentional trip by visitors.
This is hardly a deterrent to collectors and dealers, who travel wherever
the “merch” can be found. The less ambitious, however, may require a bit of
coaxing.
Out-of-town visitors should take exit 45 off the NYS Thruway to I-490
west and then exit 21 to NY Route 590
north. Travel just over four miles and
take exit 11 for Ridge Road. The mall is
a half mile on the right.
For an industry and activity that’s
seen better days, Ontario Mall
Antiques’ new location is refreshing
and inspiring.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
362 days a year (they are closed on
Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter),
they can be reached at 585-342-2828.
Read Bruce Austin’s weekly Blog,
posted every Monday morning: http://
www.rit.edu/cla/wild/blog/ Contact
him at 585-387-9820 or BAAGLL@RIT.
EDU
To Place a Memoriam Notice:
Send to the NYPA Collector at
710 Main Street, East Aurora, NY 14052
or [email protected]
for, and writer about Christianity.
*He was featured on the cover of
Time magazine on Sept. 8, 1947 in a
portrait painting. In the background
was a horned devil figure holding a
pitchfork and frowning at an angel
figure that was only partially depicted
with just one white wing showing.
*He married late in life at the age of
57, and he wife died about four years
later from cancer.
In 2015, the seven books of The
Chronicles of Narnia, published 19501955 and with pristine dust jackets,
sold for $38,298 at Sotheby’s. Lewis
was very diligent about responding to
his fan mail, and a letter from him to
a fan dated 19 August 1945 auctioned
for £4,600 in Gloucester, UK in 2014.1
Clive Staples Lewis was born on Nov.
29, 1898 in Belfast, Ireland, and died
on Nov. 22, 1963 of kidney failure.
Relatively few noted his passing
because this was also the day that the
President John F. Kennedy died.
A Non-Profit Organization
Dedicated to the Preservation of
Railroad History & Memorabilia
KEY LOCK & LANTERN
Official Journal of Key Lock & Lantern, Inc.
A Non-Profit Membership Corporation Chartered in New Jersey
Serving Railroadiana Collectors Since 1966
Volume 38, No. 4
Issue # 156
KEY LOCK & LANTERN
Official Journal of Key Lock & Lantern, Inc.
A Non-Profit Membership Corporation Chartered in New Jersey
Serving Railroadiana Collectors Since 1966
Issue # 158
Volume 39, No. 2
In This Issue:
Passes of the Central RR of New Jersey
History of the Dietz Vesta Lantern
Cleaning Methods for Paper Railroadiana
Questions & Answers
Photos from Along the Line
Switch Lamp Repair on the Santa Fe
$5.75
Single Copy
Price
In This Issue:
NYO&W “Alphabet” Switch Keys
Displays at the KL&L Convention
The Railway Guide: NYS&W RR
Rare Lanterns Sold at Auction
Fakes & Reproductions Report
Know Your Collector
$5.75
Single Copy
Price
Membership Includes:
Quarterly Magazine with Photos and
Articles About RR History & Collecting
Bi-Monthly E-mail Newsletter
Free Want Ads in Both Publications
Invitation to Annual Convention
Visit our web site for news & information
about railroadiana collecting, train shows &
events, KL&L membership, and download
free Key, Lock & Lantern newsletters.
www.klnl.org