Less than a year after opening its original location, the former Matt’s Mantiques – now Matt’s Mantiques and Mercantile – has moved to a larger store located at 301 Brown Street in downtown Brownwood.
“Everyone thinks we’re an antique store, and we have old stuff, but we’re not just an antique store,” said owner Matt Arrington, who opened the doors of the new site Thursday. “We have a lot more than that and that’s one of the reasons for adding the ‘Mercantile’ on the end.”
Regarding the decision to change locations, Arrington said, “There’s more space and we have a lot of new products, not just the antiques, but we’re still specializing in men’s products – beard products, barbecue equipment, shirts, glasses. This building was built in 1912 so it’s a 110-year-old building that was totally redone by Matt McCrane. This building fits us a lot better and it’s in a great location.”
The renovation of the current location took approximately two months, and the former location closed three weeks ago.
“This was an empty building for more than 40 years and it only took two months,” Arrington said. “It’s amazing what they’ve done with this.”
Matt’s wife, Skye, who is serving in a greater capacity at the new location, said, “The goal was to be open for Thanksgiving and everybody worked really hard to make that happen. This is a much larger location and it’s closer to more downtown traffic.”
Skye spoke about some of the new items offered at Matt’s Mantiques and Mercantile.
“We’re still carrying BLZR, and we’ve expanded our grooming products for men,” she said. “There’s a lot more inventory and a lot more products available. We do snacks, lots of grilling tools and that product line has expanded. We focus on things for men but probably at least 50 percent or more of our shoppers are women. We’re most definitely a gift shop.”
BrownwoodNews.com spoke with Matt Arrington in November 2021 when the original location opened.
“Everybody has that man in their life that they say has it all, or they can’t find something for the guy that has it all, but I bet you can find it here,” he said at the time. “I restored a car, I restored some gas pumps and some other things, and I have this collection of signs and man cave stuff so I figured I’d open a store. The whole thing was just an idea because there’s no place here you can go and buy a gift like these. You can buy clothes and some men’s products, but nothing like this.”
Sports memorabilia is still a driving force at the store, where an influx in sports trading cards in the last year also played a role in the move to a larger venue.
“I added the card shop, which was in a little room at our other location,” Matt said. “We’ve really blown out the card shop which was one of the reasons for a bigger building. The cards have grown and trade nights have gone up. We’re doing some events in the evening.”
The store hours are still 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and the Arringtons expect to have expanded hours as Christmas approaches.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/mattsmantiquesandgifts.
