United Hillyard Antique Mall closing after 30 years

The antique community on Market Street in Hillyard will get a little smaller on Monday when the United Hillyard Antique Mall closes its doors after more than 30 years in business.

Deana Solomon and her then husband, Lance Tibbett, purchased the building at 5016 N. Market St. in 1988 to house their antique shop.

“We were across the street for two years before the building came up for sale, and we bought it,” she said. “It’s about 6,000 square feet. It’s a nice building.”

The two-story brick building was built in 1920 to house the United Hillyard Bank. It replaced two side-by-side buildings that housed First National Bank and the State Bank of Hillyard. The main floor still has the tile floor that is visible in historical photographs taken in the late 1940s, when Seattle First National Bank occupied the building.

“We’ve done a lot to the building,” Solomon said. “When we bought the building there was no heat to the building.”

There was also a staircase to the second floor that was immediately inside the front door. That was removed decades ago. In more recent years, Solomon and her husband of 20 years, Jim Solomon, have added air conditioning and expanded to the second floor. “He put in the upstairs,” she said. “It was all gutted.”

Their store offered a little bit of everything, including dishes galore, a collection of antique cookie jars, art, postcards and records. One of the selections still available recently was a 1972 Elvis record titled “Always on My Mind” still sealed in plastic.

“People collect anything and everything,” she said. “We need to have something for them when they walk through the door.”

“She calls herself a recycler,” Jim Solomon said.

They have also been selling furniture and kitchen appliances, including toasters and waffle irons from the 1950s, he said.

The Hillyard Neighborhood is known as an antique shopping destination. There are 10 other antique shops located in a relatively short stretch of Market Street.

“That was part of the draw,” Deana Solomon said. “You have free parking here. You can go from one store to the other and they do.”

The couple have discounted everything in the store, selling everything from the display cases to the rugs on the floor. But they know they won’t be able to sell everything by March 15, and they still have a packed shop and storage at home full of antiques. “I’m an addict when it comes to buying,” Solomon said.

Giving up buying antiques will be the biggest challenges in retirement, she said.

“We’re going to miss the find and the buying,” she said. “It’s taken me a while to let loose, but I know it’s the best thing for us.”

Laura Logsdon browsed the shelves on a recent day. She’d been in the shop once before several years ago and picked out a brass bell and an angel figurine to purchase.

“I had to come back in before they were gone,” she said.

The couple first started thinking of retirement two years ago and put the building on the market, but there weren’t any nibbles. But late last year a Realtor reached out and said he had a client who wanted to buy the building. The papers were signed in January. The new owners want to open a microbrewery, Solomon said.

Since then, the owners of some of the neighboring antique shops have been buying large amounts of their inventory, Solomon said.

“When we signed the papers, we went down the whole strip,” she said. “They came in and started buying.”

The closure was announced publicly in February. The couple have to empty the building by the end of the month, and Solomon said she knows everything won’t sell. They’re considering setting up a booth at antique shows and other events to clear out everything, she said.

But will Solomon be able to fully let go of the antique business and be content to dote on the six children, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren in their blended family? Not likely, her husband said.

“She’ll rent a spot somewhere,” he said. “But we won’t have the responsibility of a building, being here seven days a week.”

Solomon said she’s grateful that the community has supported her store for so many years.

“It’s an enjoyable business,” she said. “We’re going to miss the people.”

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Nina Culver can be reached at nculver47@gmail.com