A new 12,000-square-foot antique mall will open its doors Friday in Hazel, Ky. The opening is good news for the small town - which Mayor Kerry Vasseur calls "an antique Mecca" - because of multiple closures in recent years.
Manager Ron Hesselrode said the newly-remodeled Hazel Antique Mall will house about 50 vendors from four states, and hopefully boost antique tourism in the community.
“Hazel was – when it lost Charlie’s, and it lost this place here and a couple other places, it was really going down,” Hesselrode said. “This is going to bring a lot of tourists back into Hazel, because we’re advertising in a wide, extensive area.”
Charlie’s Antique Mall shuttered in 2011 following a dispute between the business owner and the city over business licenses.
Vasseur said he toured the new mall Thursday and thinks it will be successful.
“This will probably be bringing in a lot more people because of the selection that he has in there," Vasseur said. "If you ever watch a show called "American Pickers", I think it comes on the History Channel, when you walk through there it’s the first thing you think of.”
The mall will be open Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and noon to 5 on Sunday. Hesselrode said there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 21 ahead of the mall's grand opening on March 1.
