{"id":761293,"date":"2026-04-29T12:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/761293\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:18:18","slug":"antique-anniversary-couple-celebrates-50-years-in-the-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/761293\/","title":{"rendered":"Antique anniversary \u2014 Couple celebrates 50 years in the business"},"content":{"rendered":"

OCEAN BEACH \u2013 Antiques and collectibles are how Ocean Beach<\/a> entrepreneurs Ken and Nancy Freeman met, what they draw sustenance from, and what keeps them going \u2014 and going and going.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved here from downtown San Diego,\u201d said Ken Freeman, before finally settling in permanently at the Ocean Beach Antique Mall<\/a> at 4926 Newport Ave.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the couple marked their 50th anniversary dealing in antiques, half of that time in OB. It\u2019s an occupation that began with the opening of their first antiques business on April 1, 1976. <\/p>\n

How Ken first got involved with antiques is an interesting tale. \u201cHe answered an ad for a part-time job as an apprentice working on imported German clocks,\u201d said Nancy Freeman, adding that her husband also \u201cbecame quite a proficient woodworker\u201d as an understudy in that trade too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were right across from where they eventually built Petco Park,\u201d said Nancy of their former downtown address. \u201cWe opened up out here Memorial Day weekend 2001, a couple of blocks up, and we\u2019ve been here for 20 years in this spot, which was originally a women\u2019s clothing store. We\u2019re the third owners of an antiques footprint here.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Nancy and Ken got together is somewhat unusual as well. \u201cI met him shopping in the store, I was a customer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe kept saying no \u2014 but she kept coming back,\u201d said Ken. \u201cFinally, she said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we have two beautiful daughters and two wonderful sons-in-law,\u201d added Nancy, adding that their oldest daughter works at the mall and will probably take over one day.<\/p>\n

Their downtown location was great, said Nancy, while indicating it wasn\u2019t home, which is what Ocean Beach has become. \u201cWhen we moved here, we just felt like we were in the right spot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Freemans\u2019 OB Antique Mall is the epitome of a brick-and-mortar mom-and-pop. Their business is chock full \u2014 almost spilling over \u2014 with collectibles and memorabilia of all sorts they\u2019ve gathered over the years.<\/p>\n

Their almost unfathomable collection of items in-store includes everything from china and knick-knacks to a huge showcase of sterling silver, along with comic books, toy trolls with colored hair, and tiki items, plus plenty of sports and Disney memorabilia. There\u2019s even a drawer full of collectible cocktail swizzle sticks and, of all things, a couple of pairs of wooden snowshoes.<\/p>\n

Given the nature of their business, it\u2019s technically a mini mall. \u201cWe have twelve different dealers besides ourselves,\u201d said Nancy. \u201cThat\u2019s why we get such an amazing mix of inventory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of OB Antique Mall\u2019s dealers rent spaces with cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my dealers have been doing this for 20-plus years,\u201d Nancy said. \u201cSo, they\u2019re very seasoned: They know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the mall\u2019s dealers are local. Some have moved away but still rent space, and periodically return to bring more merchandise. Jewelry, both real and costume, is always a popular mall seller. Sterling silver, which OB Antique Mall carries a lot of, is also in high demand.<\/p>\n

Antiques is also a trade that has proven to be somewhat surprisingly resilient to economic change. Despite the OB Pier being permanently closed due to storm damage, which has cut some into local business, Nancy said their mini-mall has been largely unaffected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther businesses have said they\u2019re off anywhere from 10% to 20%,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not. We have been going strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining the reason behind their mall\u2019s being largely recession-proof, Nancy said, \u201cMainly, I really think it is that people love coming to San Diego. We\u2019re a fun, funky little town. And we\u2019re a getaway.\u201d<\/p>\n

And fun and funky is what Ocean Beach Antique Mall is, always has been, and always will be about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCEAN BEACH \u2013 Antiques and collectibles are how Ocean Beach entrepreneurs Ken and Nancy Freeman met, what they…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":761294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,18485,1582,276,312851,10086,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-761293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-anniversary","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-ob-antique-mall","tag-ocean-beach","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}