Carrie Sandberg opened Sands of Time on M-51 South on Tuesday.

The 16-vendor antique mall shares her grandparents’ former Sandy Acres farm and feed store building of 3,000 square feet with her father Duane’s Club 51, where a Christian country rock band will perform Friday and Saturday nights for family-oriented entertainment.

Sandberg intends for the mall, which has attracted vendors from Niles and Lawrence as well as Dowagiac as a seasonal business closed from September until March.

In September the mother of Austin, Sara and Adam, who is the Pokagon Township clerk, returns to teaching algebra at Southwestern Michigan College, as she has since 2009.

“It kind of took off faster than I thought it would,” Sandberg said Tuesday. “I’ve had more interest than I ever thought possible. I think it’s the casino. This area is really perking up.

”Every vendor brings in their own stuff, they tag it and are responsible for keeping the shelves full, and I run the whole place. We’ve (including SMC friend Natalie Anagnos from Elkhart, Ind.) been working day and night to get this place ready because I wanted to keep it in the family and do something for my grandma. I think she’d love it.”

Sandberg’s grandmother, Elzie (Martha Sue) Casey, died May 28, 2011.

“In the back of my mind, since I was little, I’ve thought of different things we could do with this building,” Sandberg said. “My boyfriend and I have been going to antique shops in Saugatuck and we didn’t have any here, so I thought that would be a good idea.”

Sandberg likes the idea of repurposing and upscaling finds.

“I’m not an ‘antique person’ — if you saw my house, you’d know I’m not — but I like taking old things and making something new out of them. I don’t want to buy new anymore. I have enough stuff.”