three sisters antique mall

Whenever my wife and I make a trip to our hometown of Blue Island, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, we always make it a point to (1) eat lunch at the White Castle at 127th and South Western Avenue, (2) drive past the homes that we grew up in, (3) visit Carr Gardens' gift shop to purchase some unique soups and (4) stop at the Three Sisters Antique Mall in search of an old book or a vintage collectible or just something that strikes our fancy. We always find something. Three Sisters has over 60 dealers who display their wares on two floors. It is listed on Illinois' complete antique guide with several other stores in De Kalb, Rockford, Naperville, Elgin, Aurora, Morris, Ottawa, Braidwood, Wilmington, Galesburg, Rock Island, Geneseo, Coal Valley, Morrison, Sterling, Ladd, Utica, Albany, Fulton, Rockton and South Beloit. I always find a rare book or two. It takes time. The library of books isn't categorized according to title or author or subject matter. You just have to browse and browse and browse. But I've found several good books over the years at $5 each, a good bargain. Twin Sisters always has lots of glassware. Historians will be pleased to find vintage Coca-Cola bottles. Magazine lovers will spend as much time sorting through old Life and Look and Colliers and Sport and Saturday Evening Post as I do thumbing through books in the library. Music-minded folks won't be able to resist the boxes of old records. We visit Twin Sisters at least once or twice a year and we always find that there has been a considerable turnover with new items on display. If you don't find something of interest, you aren't trying.

Blue Island is one of the oldest suburbs in the Chicago area. My wife and I were born and raised there and graduated from high school in 1958. The shopping area on Western Avenue was thriving in those days with two motion picture theaters, a bowling alley, boutiques, Woolworth's, Hart's Drugs Store, Klein's, Bette Hermann's, Watland's, Leutemeyer's, A & P, White Castle, Taub's, Homan's. But times have changed. Much of downtown is owned by St. Francis Hospital, buildings and parking lots. The theaters closed. Woolworth's became the Three Sisters Antique Mall. Only the White Castle remains. We live in downtown Chicago but still make occasional trips to our hometown. You can't pass up White Castle hamburgers. And we always stop at the Three Sisters Antique Mall. Twenty-five years ago, my wife purchased two sterling silver napkin ring holders. It was the beginning of her collection. Today, she has 44 of them. You can't find sterling silver napkin ring holders today -- and we've spent time at antique malls from Virginia to Florida trying to find them. The Three Sisters also has an expansive library of old books, hard cover and paperback. I never cease to find at least one or two per visit. The two-story building is well kept, well organized and features something of everything that the well-intentioned antique seeker would be looking for...books, magazines, silver, furniture, clothing apparel, crystal, pottery, toys, china, silverware, artwork. We've only been to one other antique mall in the country that is comparable, in Strasburg, Virginia. We appreciate spending time in an antique mall where it is obvious from the minute you walk in the showroom that the proprietors have taken the time to turn their property into a showroom instead of a warehouse. Three Sisters is one of those.