BERLIN – A local antique store marks 20 years of business in Berlin this year.
After making it through a recession and numerous changes in downtown Berlin, Town Center Antiques is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2017.
“There’s a lot of history here for us,” owner Bill Outten said.
Town Center Antiques has its roots in the former Farlow’s Pharmacy. In 1997, proprietors of the shop opted to replace it with an antique mall in an effort to aid in the town’s revitalization. When they put an ad in the newspaper seeking people to rent booths, Don and Patricia Fischer responded. Outten, their son, says they were new to the area and interested in selling crafts. Renting a booth quickly turned into managing the mall and then buying the business.
When the adjacent Style Guide closed its ladies section, the Fischers’ Town Center Antiques took over that space. They increased the size of the mall again the following year when the Style Guide closed completely.
“The Fischers took over and again had more dealers than spaces,” Outten said. “Most of these dealers are still with us who live all over the Eastern Shore and love the life of antiques, gifts and collectibles.”
Outten moved to Berlin in 2005, opening an art gallery. When the recession hit a few years later, he closed the gallery and began helping his parents with the antique empire, which at that time included several storefronts and even a coffee shop.
“It was a full coffee shop with espresso and lattes which was a nice addition to Berlin and worked well with the antique store concept,” Outten said. “It was only a few years ago that we decided to close the coffee shop, about when the Berlin Coffee House was thinking of opening.”
Not long after the closure of the coffee shop, Outten added Uptown Antiques — located in the old Donoway Furniture building — to the family’s operation.
In spite of the numerous changes in downtown Berlin during the past two decades, Outten, who took over Town Center Antiques when the Fischers retired in 2016, says the antique business has stayed strong.
“In 2007 when the recession hit almost every art gallery disappeared but the antique stores continued on,” he said.
While antiques as a whole remain popular, Outten said trends had changed in recent years.
“Antiques that were popular are no longer popular,” he said.
Instead, other items have become best-sellers. He was pleasantly surprised to see shoppers, particularly young shoppers, develop an interest in records.
“In the last two to three years they’ve been taking over,” he said, adding that rock and roll albums from the 1960s were the most popular. “It’s a trend that’s come full circle.”
The antique mall model—in which the shop rents booths to dealers—has proven successful in Berlin just as it has throughout the country. Outten said it provided customers with plenty of variety and a changing inventory.
Vendors are happy too, Outten said, because they have a place to display their wares and can track their sales daily through the computer program Town Center Antiques uses.
“Most systems on the Eastern Shore are handwritten,” Outten said. “Ours is way more modern. You can see what your sales are per day.”
Outten said one of his goals as owner of the enterprise was to continue to use technology to improve the business. In addition to focusing on up-to-date sales and computer systems, he plans to make use of social media to advertise the business and even Berlin as a whole. He calls the town the “Antique Capital of the Eastern Shore.”
“I’m marketing that,” Outten said. “A lot of things I’m doing pertain to that niche.”
Outten, like Patricia Fischer, is a past president of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and has served on various civic boards. He started the Berlin Cruisers events and looks forward to staying involved in the town’s events. Outten has nothing but praise for the town, which he said was ideally located close to Ocean City and now featured an array of businesses to draw tourists in.
“It’s a good place to start treasure hunting,” he said.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Town Center Antiques will host a special ribbon cutting June 7 at 5 p.m. On June 10, the shop will host an “Antiques Road Show” style event at the Atlantic Hotel from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
