“The owners of a popular Edgewater vintage store are retiring, but they hope a buyer keeps the nearly 30-year-old business going.
”Broadway Antique Market, 6130 N. Broadway, has been a Chicago destination for antique and vintage shoppers since co-owners Duane Scott Cerny and Jeff Nelson bought the Art Deco building and founded the business in 1998. The multi-dealer shop, which is the largest and oldest of its kind in the city, stocks everything from furniture and dishware to clothing and artwork.
”The antique shop and its two-story, 21,000 square-foot building are listed for sale at $2.5 million through the commercial real estate firm SVN Chicago Commercial.
”Cerny and Nelson got their start in the antiques industry by opening Wrigleyville Antique Mall in 1988. The business partners outgrew their Clark Street space and in 1998 bought the Broadway building, naming the new store the Broadway Antique Market.
”The business has grown to include 50 independent vintage dealers, and it also acts as a prop supplier for local television, film and theater productions.
”The steady increase in the building’s property taxes was also a factor in the owners’ decision to retire, Cerny said. Cook County records show the building’s taxes have more than doubled from 2020 to 2024, when the building owners paid over $101,000 in property taxes.
”’It’s over six figures, and that’s just not sustainable,’ he said.
”Cerny said he hopes the next buyer will preserve the building and the business.
”’I know this place is very important to so many people,’ he said. ‘People come in and say, “This is my happy place. I get away from everything and just look at objects and see what speaks to me.”’
”If sold, the historic building’s fate could be up in the air.
”The building and business are being advertised as a potential redevelopment opportunity, and the stretch of Broadway it occupies was recently rezoned to allow for taller and denser buildings. But the existing building does have some protections against demolition.
”The building was constructed in 1940 to house the Mann Furniture store, and it includes one of the only Art Deco building facades in the area, according to the Edgewater Historical Society.
”It isn’t an official Chicago landmark, but the building does have an orange rating from the city’s Chicago Historic Resources Survey. This means the property possesses ‘some architectural feature or historical association that made [it] potentially significant in the context of the surrounding community,’ according to the city.
”If a demolition permit is applied for to tear down an orange-rated building, a 90-day delay is automatically triggered to give city officials extra time to review the permit and ‘explore options, as appropriate, to preserve the building, including but not limited to landmark designation,’ according to the Department of Planning and Development.” (Savedra, Block Club Chicago, 8/12/26)
Preservation Chicago applauds Duane Scott Cerny and Jeff Nelson for nearly three decades of stewardship at Broadway Antique Market, a Chicago legacy business. They purchased the building in 1998, maintained it, filled it with vintage treasures, and established a joyful and beloved destination for locals and visitors.
The 1940 Mann Furniture Store is one of few surviving Art Deco commercial facades in Edgewater. It is orange-rated in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, and it is being marketed as a redevelopment opportunity on a stretch of Broadway that was upzoned last year for greater height and density.
Preservation Chicago notes that the 90-day demolition delay typically serves as a minor delay for developers, before the demolition bulldozers are mobilized to clear a site. We encourage the Department of Planning and Development and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to be prepared to act if a demolition permit is filed.
Preservation Chicago encourages a preservation-oriented buyer to step forward who will retain both the building and the business.
Read the full story at Block Club Chicago
- Broadway Antique Market, The Beloved Edgewater Vintage Store, Is For Sale; The owners are selling their 30-year-old business, citing a desire to retire and a hefty property tax bill that eclipsed six figures in 2024, Madison Savedra, Block Club Chicago, 8/12/26
- 6130 N. Broadway St., Chicago, IL; Property Listing, SVN Chicago Commercial via LoopNet
- Broadway Rezoning In Edgewater, Uptown Gets City Council OK After Months Of Neighbor Debate, Block Club Chicago, 10/16/25
- Chicago Historic Resources Survey; Department of Planning and Development, City of Chicago
- Demolition Delay; Department of Planning and Development, City of Chicago
- LOSS: Edgewater’s Motor Row McNitt Building Demolished for Future Development; Preservation Chicago
- Edgewater Historical Society