In his nearly three-decade run as co-owner, Duane Cerny has seen multiple generations of customers pass through Broadway Antique Market’s doors.
“I had a couple that would come in with an 8-year-old son and daughter, and they would run around like maniacs,” he said. “Their parents introduced them to vintage young and, it turns out, one of them became a designer and the other one an architect.”
For years, the beloved Edgewater antique store’s curated selection of furniture, art, clothing and accessories has attracted a diverse customer base, including serious collectors, tourists, set designers, families and local college students. Weekends at the shop are busy, bustling with customers perusing cases of vintage jewelry and exploring showrooms of furniture.
“I love that our decor has filtered its way into hundreds of thousands of homes that don’t look like Ikea,” Cerny, 67, said. “It’s their own personality.”
Now, Cerny and his co-owner and partner, Jeff Nelson, 65, are ready to retire and say they’re looking for a new owner to “pick up the mantle and run.”
Both the business and its two-story, 21,000-square-foot art deco building at 6130 N. Broadway are listed for $2.5 million.
“We really are going out on top,” Cerny said. “If I were younger, I would continue with this. It rocks.”
Cerny and Nelson bought the building in 1998, after eight years running the Wrigleyville Antique Mall. Since then, the store has grown to include more than 50 independent dealers.
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Rising property taxes were a major factor in the couple’s decision to retire, Cerny said. Between 2023 and 2024, the property’s tax bill jumped from around $75,000 to more than $100,000, following the county’s triennial reassessment.
“It just wasn’t sustainable,” Cerny said. “I don’t know what we’re going to have to be selling to pay those kinds of numbers.”
The business hired attorneys to appeal the county’s assessment, Cerny said, but were unsuccessful.
“Hopefully, somebody else can come along with an idea of how they can pay the property taxes, because at this point we can’t,” he added.
Cerny said he and Nelson are hoping for a new owner to buy both the property and the business. If not, the future of the historic building may be less certain as the online listing highlights its “redevelopment potential.”
In recent years, Edgewater has become an increasingly trendy neighborhood. According to data from Zillow, property values in the area have increased 36% since 2020 and, in 2025, the stretch of Broadway where Cerny and Nelson’s shop is located was upzoned to allow for taller, denser buildings.
The city classifies the store, which was constructed in 1939, as having “potentially significant architectural or historical features” due to its distinctive art deco exterior. Future developers would be subject to a 90-day demolition delay while city officials explore preservation options.
“The building itself features beautiful Art Deco architecture, and we would like to see a buyer that values the building’s history and beauty as much as our community does,” 48th Ward Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth said in a statement.
For longtime dealer Jeff Cohen, the shop’s closure would mark the “end of an era.” Cohen, who specializes in vintage watches and jewelry, has been a Broadway Antique Market fixture from the start, following Cerny and Nelson to Edgewater from their previous storefront.
“This place has been an institution,” Cohen said.
When Cerny and Nelson step back from the store, Cohen plans to follow them into “semiretirement.”
“The day they move out of there, I’m going also,” he said. “They’re more than just my landlords. They’ve been business partners and friends.”
What makes the store unique, according to Cohen, is its size and department store-like structure. A diverse lineup of dealers with varying tastes and collecting backgrounds curate cubicles on the shop floor, giving customers the chance to wander between different historical periods and types of collectibles.
“When this place is gone, it’s gone,” Cohen said. “There’s nothing else like it.”
That variety, Cerny said, is also what keeps customers coming back.
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“Some guy will come in and go ‘I wouldn’t be interested in all this old stuff,’” Cerny said. “Suddenly, he finds an Oingo Boingo album and then he needs a lamp.”
Over the years, the store’s eclectic inventory has also drawn set designers from movies and TV shows filming in the city, including the “Chucky” series and “Road to Perdition,” starring Tom Hanks.
“Almost anything that’s been filmed in Chicago, they’ve come through and if we had what they needed, we propped it out,” Cerny said.
Cerny and Nelson plan to keep the store open through the winter holidays, stocking new items through the end.
“We’re so grateful to the Edgewater community and grateful to Chicago for putting us on the map,” Cerny said.