Little did Lisa Carlson Chrisopoulos know when she bought the building at 190 Northfield Road in Northfield in early 2020 that its crowning feature would be the ventilation system. (The previous owner used the space as a garage for his exhaust-spewing Ferrari collection.) Seeing its white floor and walls and corrugated metal ceiling, she knew she could transform the place into an expansive new home for Heritage Trail Mall, the antique bazaar she ran with her parents and sister in Wilmette for nearly 28 years. With a name tweak, Heritage Trail Mercantile opened in the new location in October with 42 vendors, many of them carryovers from the original spot. Chrisopoulos now runs the market solo, but pandemic-friendly HVAC system aside, much about it will be familiar to her regulars: booths packed with smartly curated antique, vintage, and handmade wares, ranging from substantial 19th-century worktables to spindly midcentury modern lamps to trendy-again ’90s costume jewelry. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, just ask: Chrisopoulos has a crazy good memory and will keep an eye out during her regular picking trips. “It just sticks in my brain,” she says. “On my day off, it’s still the thrill of the hunt.”
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