My fiance, Nikole and I live in Buechel and always passed this place called Derby City Antique Mall that looked interesting and heard good things about. After deciding on starting a new video series called Local Louisville, we figured this would be the perfect place to start since it was only a two minute drive from our apartment.
We reached out to them via their Facebook page asking if it was okay to film and if they would be interested in an interview. They were quick to reply that they would love to have us, so we set out on our little mini-adventure to test out our new video format.
We learned that Derby City Antique Mall used to be Hikes Grade School, built in 1927, that was later put up for sale by JCPS. The three owners, Kim, Kay, and Debbie bought it and turned it into the antique mall.
This has to be one of the most interesting places to explore in town. The layout is perfect, as different dealers can set up in what used to be classrooms, which makes it easy to navigate and find items suited to your interests.
DCAM has everything from antiques, vintage and collectors items, furniture, jewelry, china, books, comics, vinyl, tapes, CDs, instruments, and toys. It also has a cafe complete with gourmet coffee, soups, and sandwiches. Unfortunately the cafe was closed during our visit because the resident chef had recently retired at the age of 86! There was also an entire room dedicated to Lionel Trains which served as the location for the Lionel Operating Club of Louisville's weekly meetups.
After we had spent more than two hours walking from room to room enduring the waves of nostalgia and finding all kinds of crazy and wacky items, we talked with Kim Peak, one of the owners of Derby City Antique Mall. She regaled the history of the establishment and told tales about how distributors who used to be students of the school found and sold antiques out of their old classrooms for decades!
Needless to say we had a great time and picked up some comics (and a Taoist Winnie the Pooh book!?!). We plan to go back very soon. A huge thank you Kim, Kay, and Debbie for having us out. You can learn more by checking out http://www.derbycityantiquemall.com/ and by following their Facebook page.
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