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NILES CHARTER TOWNSHIP — A new business in town aims to be a place where the past meets the present.

Antiques on 11th, 2515 S. 11th St., opened to the public for the first time Friday morning. 

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Monday and is owned by Erin Douglass, who also owns The Market Place across the street at 2428 S. 11th St. 

“I’ve always enjoyed the hunt,” she said. “Buying and selling, we’ve done it for a long time, so it’s something we’ve always enjoyed together.”

When the building housing Antiques on 11th was listed for sale, Douglass and her family saw it as the perfect opportunity to expand their collection of items and offer something new.

“We just rent (The Market Place space) across the street,” she said. “We wanted to be the owners and make more decisions, so we bought this space. We have a very eclectic (collection), I just buy what I like. A lot of people buy  a theme or something and I don’t really have any sort of thing.”

Douglass said she currently has five vendors in the shop and aims to add a few more. She hopes Antiques on 11th will provide customers with a local store to find hidden treasures.

“We have a lot of people that love to shop at The Market Place,” she said. “We call it our ‘happy place’; even our vendors refer to it as their happy place. I hope it’s another place that people can find beautiful things that aren’t outrageously priced. You don’t have to leave Niles. 

“I just want to offer a place that you can find something or even just take the time to just walk around. It brings back memories; ‘My grandma had that,’ or things like that. So that’s what we want to offer.”