When Shirlene Coates learned the 13,000-square-foot building at the intersection of North Lamar and Highway 30 was available, she snapped it up.
A 20-year veteran of the antique mall business, Coates put up the sign for the Cotton Boll Antique Mall and sold out on vendor space within a month, opening just in time for the first football game at Ole Miss.
“We have 68 booths and a waiting list,” Coates said. “Business is picking up every day as people learn about us. I have been in the antique mall business all my life and just wanted to have my own business and do things my way.”
Coates worked for the past several years for another antique mall in Oxford, but here, experience in the business goes back some 20 years when she and husband, J.C. Coates, lived in Kentucky.
The Cotton Boll Antique Mall is located in the building formerly occupied by The Green Door.
“We are excited to have this location, and our exhibitors come from areas as far away as Kentucky. We have exhibitors from Holly Springs as well as the Jackson area and a waiting list of prospects,” she said.
The Cotton Bowl offers a little bit of everything from painted furniture and antiques to metal, glass and wooden decor items and works of art.
“We ask our exhibitors what they will be exhibiting and will not accept items like old clothes,” she said. “We do have vintage and collegiate clothes, however.”
The Cotton Bowl Antique Mall has a diverse offering of items and is not something you can rush through. If you are killing time before or after the Ole Miss game Saturday, plan on extra time to enjoy this new Oxford business.
Story by Jim Roberts for HottyToddy.com. Email hottytoddynews@gmail.com with comments.
