O’Brien’s Dry Goods in St. Cloud Announces Opening Date [PHOTOS]

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- An old building has new life selling old products in downtown St. Cloud. After several months of renovation, O'Brien's Dry Goods Antique and Vintage Market is almost ready to open its doors.

The 1880s building was a shoe store for about 100 years, but it has sat empty for about the past five years.

Owner Chad O'Brien says they've removed the false ceiling and found the original tin ceiling, they restored the original wood floors, removed plaster to expose the brick walls, and even found a window on the back wall that was covered up.

He says when you come in to shop, you'll notice the difference between a thrift or second-hand store and his vintage market.

You're going to find a rack of things that almost everything has already been picked.  If you come in and are looking for music t-shirts, I've got 70 of them, you don't have to dig through 500 t-shirts.  And, the ones you find here are not reproductions.

O'Brien also has over 60 old St. Cloud State clothing items, other local vintage college items, and clothing from local high schools. He says he started selling vintage items online about four years ago, and that went so well as a side hustle, he decided to make the jump to a brick-and-mortar store. He will continue to offer some of his higher ticket-priced items for sale on the store's website. 

O'Brien says about 40 percent of the merchandise is his that he hand-picked for the store. The other 60 percent is from vendors that are renting a space in the store.

We've got true antique dealers in here, we've got vintage furniture, glassware, 80s & 90s toys, a video game vendor, so we've got a mix of a lot of different things.

He says he had room for about 13 vendors, which he expects all of the spaces to be spoken for by the time he opens his doors.

Right now, the retail space is on the main level of the building, but if things go well, he could expand to the basement level at some point.

The second level has two apartments that are about 1,100 square feet each.  O'Brien is working on a plan to start renovations on them by later this summer.

He says he's also committed to beautifying the alley in back with some murals.

O'Brien's Dry Goods Antique and Vintage Market at 611 West St. Germain Street will open on Wednesday, April 30th at 10:00 a.m.

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Their regular hours will be Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and they'll be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

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