After more than three decades on Grant Road, American Antique Mall is preparing to shut its doors as Tucson advances a city-led widening project. Owner Dwight Schannep said the shop, a 7,500-square-foot space that has hosted hundreds of vendors since opening in 1993, must be cleared by next July to accommodate the road work. Schannep is planning a liquidation sale later this year as he winds down operations and figures out how to move the store’s remaining inventory into a smaller location.
Interior of American Antique Mall in Tucson, showing display cases and merchandise as the store prepares to close for the Grant Road widening project.
American Antique Mall has been a neighborhood fixture since 1993, operating for 33 years along the midtown stretch of Grant Road. Over that time, more than 800 vendors have sold a wide variety of goods from the space, including antiques, Native American items, older jewelry and turquoise. The shop’s footprint and long tenure made it familiar to collectors, locals and seasonal visitors alike, and Schannep said the store’s inventory reflects the decades of buying and selling that took place there.
Schannep described the change as both an end of an era and a chance to slow down. "Being here seven days a week is not going to be missed at all, so we're looking forward to transitioning to a more easy lifestyle," he said. At the same time he acknowledged the emotional weight of closing a business that has been a consistent part of his life for so long. "We're looking forward to it but in a way we're sad to see this part of our life end since it's been half of my life that we've been here," he said.
The timeline tied to the Grant Road project will shape how the shop liquidates its inventory. Schannep said having until next July gives the business the winter season to run sales and pare down stock, a factor he views as helpful. "Which is great because it's going to give us the winter season to liquidate our inventory," he said, noting that the presence of seasonal visitors and returning snowbirds typically brings added traffic to the area.
Plans currently call for a liquidation sale likely in October, timed deliberately to coincide with the return of Tucson’s seasonal population. Schannep said he expects that schedule will help move significant portions of the store’s holdings before the shutdown deadline. After the sale and the closing of the Grant Road location, he said he intends to continue the business on a smaller scale, looking for a building of roughly 2,500 square feet. He acknowledged that fitting the remaining inventory into a smaller footprint will present logistical challenges that he is still working through.
For customers who have shopped the mall for years, the news of the closure has been met with disappointment. Schannep said many regulars expressed sadness at the loss of what he called an "institution" in the local retail landscape. "A lot of our customers are sad, they hate to see an institution leaving; 33 years in business in Tucson is quite an amazing feat," he said, reflecting on the relationships and patterns of community commerce built around the store.
While the closure is linked directly to the city’s infrastructure project, Schannep said he is concentrating on the transition itself and what comes next. He suggested the move could present an opportunity to simplify operations and enter a new chapter. "In a way it might be a blessing to us to downsize and move into the next phase of our life," he said. With a liquidation sale planned, a deadline set for next July and an intention to reopen in a smaller space, the American Antique Mall will be wrapping up a 33-year run on Grant Road as the city’s widening plans proceed.
The American Antique Mall's business listing and its own website give the store's address as 3130 E. Grant Road, placing it directly within the midtown stretch targeted by the city’s Grant Road improvements.
City project materials for the Grant Road Improvement Project say Phases 5 and 6 (the segment from Santa Rita Avenue to Palo Verde Avenue) are planned to begin construction in 2026, and the project website notes that right‑of‑way acquisition is part of the process with Tierra Right‑of‑Way under contract to assist the City of Tucson’s Transportation Real Estate Division.
Other nearby businesses have also tied closures to the widening: local reporting shows Dante’s Fire at 2526 E. Grant Road intends to permanently close on July 19, 2026, and city documents estimate the construction cost for the current phases of the project at about $63.2 million.