Largest antique marketplace celebrates six years in business
Relics Antique Marketplace holds New Year's Day Celebration
TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – The largest antique mall in the Tupelo area marks its anniversary on New Year’s Day.
Relics Antiques is celebrating six years in business and the business is thriving because of loyal customers and vendors.
As Relics Antique Marketplace opened, Jon Daly was pricing albums from an Elvis collection he recently acquired.
Daly owns the EP Boulevard Pawn Shop, the largest dealer of Elvis Presley memorabilia in Memphis. He has had a space at Relics for about five years now.
“One of the things I like to do at Relics is bring the history back to Tupelo, so there’s a lot of promotional pictures from ’56 some of the trading cards, jewelry if you’re looking for the early Elvis this is the place to come in Tupelo,” Daly said.
While Daly was pricing and sorting items to sell, Tony Palmer was busy at the cash register.
Tony and his wife Heather opened Relics on January 1 2017 in the old Tupelo Garment Factory building. They lease space to vendors who sell a variety of items.
“We have a mix of vintage, hand made, repurposed items, traditional antiques, our motto is we have something for everyone,” Palmer said.
There could be some treasures on the shelves.
“We had one lady to buy what she thought was a print of her favorite artist for sixty dollars and turns out it was an original signed, and it’s worth over 10 thousand,” Palmer said.
When Relics opened its doors six years ago, they had 20 vendors, there are one hundred now, with three hundred on the waiting list and the sluggish economy has been good for business.
“The economy has helped, people are buying more used items, they can buy used furniture and chalk paint it, it has helped us so far,” Palmer said.
Louis Rowles owns The Precious Possum and was one of the first vendors at Relics. He says it has been a great fit.
“It is like family here, Tony and Heather, are so dealer friendly, they support us, make it a great place to have a space, and we all get along, we support each other, we work together,” Rowles said.
Relics celebrated its anniversary and the New Year with free black-eyed peas and greens, part of a southern tradition to bring good luck and prosperity.
If the huge crowds on this New Year’s Day are any indication, 2024 could be a banner year for Relics.
All vendors had specials throughout the day as part of the anniversary celebration.
