The All NEW, All DIFFERENT . . .

I'm not even sure if Blogs are a thing anymore? 

This blog has certainly taken a back seat for me, but I'm surprised it's been 5  full years since my last post. I suppose Facebook has taken it's place? Captain Cosmos Collectibles has gone through a LOT of changes since then. While Captain Cosmos itself is still primarily a toy dealer, it is now just a part of something much bigger: Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall in Central Florida. So much has changed, I don't know where to begin? 

For context, lets begin where the last story ended. 

Captain Cosmos Collectibles

in Winchester, Ky.

Closed 12-31-11

Captain Cosmos Collectibles was once located in beautiful downtown Winchester, Kentucky. We owned the building and lived upstairs. That was the only reason it was open as long as it was. It turned out to be a terrible location. After several years of barely hanging on, we closed up shop on December 31st, 2011, and filed for bankruptcy. For MANY reasons, not the least of which was the distaste for shoveling snow that Kentucky had instilled in me, we moved to Florida to start over.

So we moved to Florida, and I really wasn't sure what I would be doing. The move took months and several round trips from Florida to Kentucky and back again. I thought I might continue to operate as Captain Cosmos Collectibles, just as a supplemental income in addition to a "real job." But I had no place to do it from, and our new house was quite a bit smaller than the home and shop we just left. I considered a booth in a local antique mall. There were 3 such locations within about 20 miles of the house. I didn't like any of them. The fit was just wrong. 2 where just too high end. My toys just wouldn't work next to Edwardian furniture. The 3rd was the original Wildwood Antique Mall, in the sleepy little town of Wildwood Florida just outside of the Villages . . . and I hated it. The town was unimpressive. There was no obvious tourism. The store was only about 2 years old. The strip mall it was in was rundown. The manager at the time didn't seem to know anything about the business. And perhaps most importantly, the Villages were still pretty far away. 
It looked as though Captain Cosmos Collectible was finished for good. 

Wildwood Antique Mall in Ocala.

(Don't go here,
it closed a few years ago)

I was making 1 LAST trip to Kentucky. There was still a lot of inventory back in Kentucky that we would be loosing in the bankruptcy if it wasn't out by a certain date, and I had no place to put it, or sell it. The decision had to be made, would this last trip be just for the final household items we could still use? Or would the trip be for inventory? On the last day before the trip, I found out that Wildwood Antique Mall was getting ready to open a new location in Ocala, Florida, about 35 miles away. This would have been their 3rd or 4th location at the time. They were growing fast. And this location, was magnificent. Right in the middle of a really nice strip mall, on a major intersection, in a fairly large city. I signed a contract on the spot.
Captain Cosmos found it's lifeline.

Business was good. Out of just 90 square feet, I was selling almost as much as I had out of the entire store in Kentucky. After a year in Ocala, I needed to expand, and the original

Wildwood Antique Mall in Wildwood

(You can still go here, in fact you

should, but you wont find

Captain Cosmos Collectibles

there)

Wildwood location had improved quite a bit. I opened a 2nd larger booth there. While it wasn't doing as well as Ocala, it was a lot closer to home, so it was easier to handle, and I had a way to rotate stock now. There were plenty of Toy and Comic shows in Florida, so that kept me busy as well. The job market was still very soft. I had found a job, but it certainly wasn't a career. It wasn't even full time. After about 6 months in the Wildwood, Wildwood Antique Mall, they asked me if I'd like a job. It was intended to be 1 or 2 days a week, it quickly became 5 days a week. 2 years later I was managing the place. It wasn't official, and I wasn't getting paid for it, but I was by all rights, the manager. I learned  lot. I learned how to run a large antique store. I learned what was selling locally. I got to know a lot of people.

After almost 2 years of being the unofficial manager, I saw no change on the horizon. Then the owner started bringing in family members to fill key positions. Positions that I trained them for. Suddenly the horizon grew darker. Any chance of upward mobility had ended. 

I thought "why should I not get paid for this job working for someone else, when I can not get paid for this job working for myself." 

Our short lived Lake Pan location.

I started looking for a location, and put in my resignation. Not long after I opened "Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall" in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida. I know, I know, you're thinking "where?" That's because you've never heard of it, and no one can pronounce it, let alone spell it. Even though it seemed like a really good idea at the time, Lake Pan just didn't work out, and we had to move after just 1 year.  We are now, ironically just 2 blocks North of Wildwood Antique Mall, the very location I originally passed on 6 years earlier. But things had changed. The Villages, one of the worlds largest, and fastest growing retirement communities had nearly doubled in size and all but engulfed Wildwood in that time. And while things are still changing, there has been a massive amount of development in the area. Wildwood isn't the sleepy little town it was just half a decade ago.

Atomic Age Artifacts, and Captain Cosmos Collectibles

The current home of

Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall

with

Captain Cosmos Collectibles inside. 

still have a long road ahead, but we are poised to be a real force in the Florida Collectible market. Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall is located at 104 E. Wonders St. Wildwood, Florida. It's a relatively small store for an antique mall, but that just means we are more focused than most. We currently have 11 vendors, and are getting ready to expand. We should have room for about 20 vendors total after the expansion. Most antique malls are just antiques in general, with no particular focus. Atomic Age specializes in Mid Century and Pop Culture collectibles. Captain Cosmos Collectibles still focuses on toys from the 1960's through today, but it's now inside of Atomic Age Artifacts. You can also find us set up at toy shows throughout the South Eastern states.