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Antique retailers want to pass along tradition

By Scott Fitzgerald, The Southern

Saturday, November 22, 2008 10:57 PM CST

ALTO PASS - It's the end of an era in the local antique world, and the closing of a major Alto Pass business.

Opportunity knocks on the door, however, for visionaries like Gary and Jan Austin, who own Austin's of Alto Pass, an antiques and old wares store that is closing this year. They hope potential new owners of their property will maintain the tradition and ambience they've developed here with other nearby businesses to attract tourism to the area.

More than a quarter-century earlier, the Austins drove by an abandoned grade school building in this picturesque Southern Illinois small town and sensed it was for them.

"Oh, honey. That place needs us," Jan Austin said, recalling how she and her husband drove by the 3,500 square-foot building on Main Street in 1985 shortly after moving here from DeKalb. Gary Austin had just accepted chairmanship of the Rehabilitation Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale's College of Education and Human Services. They were shopping for a new home.

Over the years, as they poured their passions into rehabilitating the school building into a home, they successfully cultivated their upscale antique business that is now going out of business at their own discretion as the Austins want to enjoy retirement.

Their passion, in addition to collecting unusual and unique relics, was rehabilitating furniture, specifically pieces that were constructed from the 1850s to the early 1900s - a time considered in the antique furniture trade as "The Golden Oak Era," Gary Austin said.

They also have put their school building home up for sale. Their real estate sales package is composed of five buildings that sit on three acres.

"We'll stay here for a while. The property is up for sale. We have no immediate plans. We've enjoyed contact with people over the years and seeing tourists coming to the area," Gary Austin said.

When speaking about tourism to the Alto Pass area, the Austins were likely a mainstay in making that happen.

They began hosting a three-day open house the weekend after Thanksgiving and watched the people arrive, including tourists from foreign countries.

"We were the first business to do it. It's become a Union County tradition," Gary Austin said. Hosting open houses has also become the norm for the nearby wineries, bed and breakfast establishments and other retail outlets that have since opened in the Alto Pass area.

The Austins came to rely on those nearby businesses during recent years to increase tourism. Even though the national economy is foremost on everyone's minds, it is not why the Austins said they are attempting to liquidate and put their property up for sale. It is simply the time for another change in their lives, each said.

"We're moving onto a second generation of patrons who come to this area to shop. We need new craftspeople and artisans to serve them," Gary Austin said.

They are hopeful that buyers interested in their property will continue to maintain the school building that could be converted easily into a bed and breakfast business, a home business or other retail outlet.

"It's a grand building worth saving," Jan Austin said about the school building.

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com

351-5076