Our story
It started with a little shelf.
And then a bigger shelf, then a corner, then a room, then two — his words, not ours.
And then a bigger shelf, then a corner, then a room, then two — his words, not ours.
The collector
"My grandmother was the one who actually got me hooked on antiques," Todd Ely says. Doloris Ely lived east of Waterloo, and what she started grew the way collecting always does: "starting with a little shelf, then a bigger shelf, then to a corner and later a room, then two and more."
He figured owning a shop wasn't in the cards. "After about 40 years, I thought, 'Well, this isn't going to happen.'" Then the owner of Antiques on 5th in downtown Auburn decided to close up — and Ely, who says plainly "I don't like to see any business close," bought it instead.
How we got here
A little shelf becomes a big shelf becomes rooms of antiques — a forty-year collecting habit takes hold.
Rather than watch a downtown Auburn antique shop close, Ely buys it and runs its 5,000 square feet for four years.
The Auburn building sells out from under the shop. Ely spends six months looking at 35 buildings across northeast Indiana. Building #36 is a 22,500-square-foot former Ford dealership in Waterloo — and this time, he buys the building.
Every single one of the 27 Auburn dealers follows him to the new town. Two other Auburn businesses relocate to Waterloo the same season.
More than 30 dealers and growing, two floors, and a town that — in Ely's words — "has been so receptive." He'll also tell you it's been a better year than any of the four in Auburn.
The neighborhood
The building sold Fords in the 1970s; today its two floors hold booths instead of Broncos. Across the street stands the restored 1883 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern depot — a working Amtrak stop that serves the whole Fort Wayne area.
Open every day, 11 to 5 — closed only Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter.
Visit the mall