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Chillicothe, Ill. —
A new antiques store will celebrate its grand opening Saturday.
Three Amigo’s, owned by Mike Callahan, Jay Close and Gary Schmick, has actually been selling antiques, primitives and jewelry since May. However, Saturday will be their official opening.
“Basically, we are offering antiques, primitives and jewelry,” Schmick said. “I also buy gold and silver on Saturdays.”
Schmick said the idea for the store, which is located at 1040 Second St., came during breakfast one Thursday at Track Inn.
“Mike was saying that he wished there was more antique shops in Chillicothe because Chillicothe’s main street, the architecture of it is for an antique town,” Schmick said.
After the three decided to bring the store to Chillicothe, Jay suggested the name of Three Amigo’s, which stuck.
The store features a variety of antiques, from umbrella stands to cupboards and even fireplace mantles.
“For a little store, we have a lot of unique stuff,” Schmick said.
It also has glassware, Longaberger baskets and more, along with jewelry.
“The jewelry is kind of an added extra little thing,” Schmick said. “I don’t carry a lot of jewelry here but I have anything that they’d want.”
Schmick formerly owned a jewelry store in north Peoria, but closed the store down after being robbed three times in five months.
He said he also offers jewelry repair at the store, with customers being able to pick up repairs the Saturday after they drop it off.
Different hours offer low overhead.
The store offers different hours than most antique stores.
“We’re open on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and if somebody comes in during the week, they can go next door and see Shirley (Loser) and she comes over and takes care of them,” Schmick said.
Loser is the owner of the next-door store, Covered Wagon Crafts.
The hours may seem different than most shops, but the trio has a reason for it.
“The whole idea behind it is, by only being open on Saturdays, we have low overhead so we can sell for less money,” he said.
In addition to offering lower sales, the low overhead also will let the group possibly open a new store in the future.
Schmick did add that, if a new store was opened, it would also be opened only on Saturdays.
Helping the community
For Callahan and Close, this is not the first antique store they have had in Chillicothe.
A new antiques store will celebrate its grand opening Saturday.
Three Amigo’s, owned by Mike Callahan, Jay Close and Gary Schmick, has actually been selling antiques, primitives and jewelry since May. However, Saturday will be their official opening.
“Basically, we are offering antiques, primitives and jewelry,” Schmick said. “I also buy gold and silver on Saturdays.”
Schmick said the idea for the store, which is located at 1040 Second St., came during breakfast one Thursday at Track Inn.
“Mike was saying that he wished there was more antique shops in Chillicothe because Chillicothe’s main street, the architecture of it is for an antique town,” Schmick said.
After the three decided to bring the store to Chillicothe, Jay suggested the name of Three Amigo’s, which stuck.
The store features a variety of antiques, from umbrella stands to cupboards and even fireplace mantles.
“For a little store, we have a lot of unique stuff,” Schmick said.
It also has glassware, Longaberger baskets and more, along with jewelry.
“The jewelry is kind of an added extra little thing,” Schmick said. “I don’t carry a lot of jewelry here but I have anything that they’d want.”
Schmick formerly owned a jewelry store in north Peoria, but closed the store down after being robbed three times in five months.
He said he also offers jewelry repair at the store, with customers being able to pick up repairs the Saturday after they drop it off.
Different hours offer low overhead.
The store offers different hours than most antique stores.
“We’re open on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and if somebody comes in during the week, they can go next door and see Shirley (Loser) and she comes over and takes care of them,” Schmick said.
Loser is the owner of the next-door store, Covered Wagon Crafts.
The hours may seem different than most shops, but the trio has a reason for it.
“The whole idea behind it is, by only being open on Saturdays, we have low overhead so we can sell for less money,” he said.
In addition to offering lower sales, the low overhead also will let the group possibly open a new store in the future.
Schmick did add that, if a new store was opened, it would also be opened only on Saturdays.
Helping the community
For Callahan and Close, this is not the first antique store they have had in Chillicothe.
Callahan owns two stores in the city, Callahan Antiques I and II. Meanwhile, Close owns Den of Antiquities, located across the street from Three Amigo’s.
“Our thought when we opened this was to put another antique store in town and give people more of a reason to come to Chillicothe to shop,” Schmick said.
Besides having various other shops in town, Schmick said he has made a map promoting various businesses in town with their location.
They are planning to pass the maps out to people who visit the shop.
Grand opening
During the opening, the trio is planning to give away between $4,000-$5,000 worth of stuff.
“On the grand opening, we are giving away a third of a carat diamond,” Schmick said. “We are also giving away, for the first 50 ladies that come in, a bottle of Ravello Beverly Hills perfume.”
He said that the perfume is valued at about $68 a bottle.
Anyone that comes to the store Saturday will be entered for a chance to win the diamond, with the drawing being when the store closes at 2 p.m. Customers will not have to be present to win.
Finally, there will be sets of pearls given away for any younger girls that come to the store.
“For a small town and a small store, it’s a pretty big push,” Schmick said.
