The Oldest Antique Malls in the US, by Their Own Founding Year
Ranked by the year each business gives on its own website
Photo: Reed's White Elephant Shop, Milford, New Hampshire, on a postcard from about 1930-1945 (c. 1930-1945). Tichnor Brothers (publisher), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped. Shown for illustration, not an endorsement. All photo credits
By the Antique Mall Finder editors · Updated
Which antique malls have been around the longest? We read the websites of the 793 antique malls we have confirmed and kept every founding year that a site ties to the business itself, such as "Est. 1978" or "in business since 1995". Each one was read by hand. We left out years that belong to something else: the building ("a mill built in 1908"), a predecessor business on the same site, or an online shop that came before the mall. 70 malls passed. The rest may be just as old; they simply do not say so on the pages we read.
70malls state a founding year
1898earliest stated year
1995median founding year
45in business 25 years or more
The longest-running antique malls
Ordered by the year each business gives, oldest first. "Years" is the simple difference from 2026; a mall that opened late in its first year has been open a little less.
A founding year is the year the business gives for itself. Some businesses count from an earlier store before the mall: The Globe Antique Store in Florence, Colorado, says it was originally established in 1898, and Black's Old and New Mall in Arab, Alabama, says it started in 1943 as a furniture store. We show the year as stated and did not check it against state business records.
When most of these malls opened
Of the 70 malls with a stated year, 23 opened before 1990 and 38 opened in the 1980s or 1990s; the 1990s is the busiest decade in this list with 21.
Decade founded
Malls
1890s
1
1940s
1
1960s
1
1970s
3
1980s
17
1990s
21
2000s
12
2010s
13
2020s
1
Read this table with care. It counts malls that are still open and that publish a founding year, so it says nothing about how many malls opened and later closed in each decade. Newer malls may also be less inclined to put a year on their website.
The oldest stated founding year in each state
The earliest stated founding year in each state where at least one confirmed mall gives a year. With one or two dated malls in many states, the "oldest" here is the oldest that says so, not necessarily the oldest in the state.
The 45 malls on this list that have been in business 25 years or more hold our 2026 Heritage Award.
Visiting a long-running mall
Age is not a measure of size or quality. Before you drive, check the mall's page for its stated size and hours, and call ahead; long-running malls change their hours like any other. To see how big a mall is, use our largest antique malls ranking; to combine several malls in one day, see the road trip guide.
Why a mall you know might be missing
We only list a year that a mall's own website states, and we read up to three saved pages per site on October 8, 2026. A mall that gives its history on another page, or not at all, is missing here. If a mall belongs on this list, send a correction with a link to the page where it states its founding year.
.jpg){kind=link}