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Business Spotlight: Mr. and Mrs. ‘Jones’

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If variety is the spice of life, Relics Antique Mall LLC is the whole spice cabinet.

In the 90,000-square-foot expanse, a $17,500 pair of brass sconces sit next to a $50 “portrait of an older woman” and just around the corner is a $5 box of glass Christmas ornaments.

“Sometimes, we feel like Indiana Jones and his wife out in search of treasure,” says co-owner Matthew Robb.

That’s the way Matthew and Beverly Robb like it.

“Every day, people walk in, stop and say, ‘Wow,’” he adds. “It really is a sight to behold.”

Formerly the manufacturing plant for SRC Holdings Corp.’s Engines Plus division, the 2015 W. Battlefield Road building is the Robbs’ crowing jewel on a 35-year career of antiquing. The former software engineer and marketing exec got their start with three small shelves.

“We rented those shelves for $13 a month, and we were scared to death,” laughs Beverly. “If we bought something for 25 cents and sold it for 50 cents, we were thrilled. We just did it for the pizza money.”

The shelves soon became booths and then their first business, the 60,000-square foot Montgomery Street Antique Mall in Fort Worth. To be near family, the couple, with son Harrison in tow, entered the southwest Missouri market with the 2009 purchase of Nana’s Antique Mall in Mount Vernon, Matthew’s hometown. By 2010, the Relics brand expanded to what would become the flagship store in Springfield.

A different world
From the recently completed Old World facade work on the exterior to the still distinctly industrial feel of high ceilings and concrete floors inside, Relics has an air of class and mystery.

“It’s everything. It’s the music, it’s the lighting, it’s the cleanliness,” Beverly says.

The atmosphere is the reason John Post rents two booths at the mall. Post’s Place and Post’s Place Too have sold unique antiques with a nautical or European tilt for the past three years.

“There’s just a different vibe here,” he says. “This place caters to the true antique lover and the hipster crowd.”

A family affair for the Posts, sons Canton and Harper even have a children’s corner in the booth selling stuffed animals that teaches them about finances. With booths starting at $72 a month, the Post family pays $184 a month, with Relics keeping 10 percent of all sales until rent is paid.

“What started out as a hobby and a way to subsidize income now brings in, on average, $500 a month,” says Post, a teacher in Willard. “When you buy it for $1 and you sell it for $10, you can’t beat that kind of cheap thrill.”

Post believes the Robbs’ extensive advertising budget also is key.

“We spend a small fortune on advertising each year,” Beverly says, pointing to ads on TV and in print, mostly 417 Magazine and trade publications.

“It’s over $80,000 a year. Nobody else does that,” Matthew adds.  

The Posts’ booth isn’t the only one in the mall with a European flair. The Robbs travel to England multiple times a year in search of antique furniture and relics. From a hand-carved altar used in an ancient English church to rows of furniture dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, the Robbs’ collection also includes French, Belgian, Dutch and German pieces shipped though Marisol International at roughly $6,000 a container.

Matthew declined to disclose annual revenues but says the company was up 4 percent last year between the two stores, down from an abnormal 12 percent growth the year before.

With all their experience, Matthew says he’s never done learning.

“You have to be able to look at a piece and know if it’s worth $5 or $500 on the spot,” he says.

His best pick? A Karl Kipp-designed beer stein he bought for $250 and sold for $58,000. But in January, he sold a Carnival glass plate for $185, later finding out it was valued at $3,500.

The extras
While the Robbs don’t keep an official count, Saturday is by far the busiest day. Open Sunday, too, Beverly says hundreds if not thousands cross the threshold each week coming from across the Midwest.

Rare antiques aren’t the only items on the menu at Relics. In the building’s center, the former manufacturing offices, the Robbs have carved out a slice of Europe through a tearoom serving a daily quiche special, sandwiches, soups, pastries and hand-mixed teas. The house special apricot mango tea is served in a street-side cafe atmosphere.

Opened this winter, the 9,000-square-foot Relics Event Center is the Robbs’ newest undertaking. With exterior access and though the mall, the space seats 500 for such events as weddings and parties. It’s already been booked for a Hy-Vee employee party, a Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau luncheon and an Ornament Collectors Club of the Ozarks show.

“We could have leased this space for retail, but we really thought about what would benefit the mall the best,” Matthew says of the space retrofitted with a kitchen and bathrooms. “This creates more customers.”

The Robbs claim Relics is the largest antique mall in the state, and they say keeping customers engaged isn’t a problem.

“There is so much to see, I’ve often joked we should rent out cots,” Beverly says with a laugh. “This place changes from day to day, hour to hour. You really never know what you’re going to find next.”

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