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Nebraska News
It takes courage to open an antique mall in December in a lousy economy. Maybe an older person would have thought twice and waited. But that isn’t Adam and Hanh McNeil’s style. To the twenty-something couple, the Vintage Village Antique Mall was theirs and they were going to make it happen.
“I knew it was a risk,” says McNeil matter of fact. “But I had been dealing in stuff for eight or nine years and always wanted to own my own business.”
It took the stalled economy to nudge him that way. His regular job for an aviation company had slowed so it was time, and the timing seemed to work.
‘The first week we were 90 percent full with dealers, and now we have a waiting list,” says McNeil.
“It’s been good, making a little money and it’s better than I had hoped for.”
Located just east of downtown, the Vintage Village has 65 dealers featuring a broad line of antiques and collectibles. The building was the former location for the Lincoln Aviation School and recently, McNeil says, a dealer ran across an old pamphlet from the school indicating that Charles Lindbergh, famed American aviator, took classes at the school.
“Just how it happened,” McNeil says in explaining the coincidence.
McNeil still works his aviation job and he’s still into collecting beer signs. “I collected my first sign at 17 — I loved that sign,” he says. Now, McNeil estimates he has over one thousand beer-related signs.
The Vintage Village Antique Mall is open seven days, 10 am to 7 pm. Look for some storewide sales in July and August. Call 402-742-0063 or visit www.VintageVillageAntiqueMall.com for more information.
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