ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The new year will bring new life to a beloved business, set to reopen with more than 160 vendors, under new ownership and at a new location in Lehigh County.
Weil Antique Center, featuring over 160 vendors selling quality antiques, collectibles and retro and vintage items, is transitioning to a new, larger location at 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown.
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
The center ceased operations at its home of more than 20 years at 2200 31st St. SW in Salisbury Township in June.
Original owners Rick and Cindy Weil sold the business to Mark Higgins and Michele Vrentas, who plan to reopen the business under the name “Weil’s Doghouse Antiques” in the first quarter of 2026 at the rear of the Parkway Shopping Center on Lehigh Street.
Higgins, Vrentas and a crew of workers have been extensively overhauling the Parkway Shopping Center space over the past several months.
The team originally hoped to complete the center’s new location by the end of this year, but unforeseen delays pushed back the center’s target opening date.
“We’ve tried to project timelines in regard to when we expect to open, but it’s a large construction project with a lot of moving parts,” Higgins told 69 News.
“Our workers are great, the tenants are empathetic to what’s going on and the city has been very helpful along this journey. But as is the case with any large construction project, certain variables like inspections and subcontractors are out of our hands. We’ve been doing a tremendous amount of work and are definitely nearing the end of the tunnel. So, we’re now anticipating that the center will open sometime in the beginning of the new year.”
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
The lower-level Parkway Shopping Center space, totaling 30,000 square feet, had been vacant for several years and once housed a bowling alley.
Most recently, it was home to a business school.
“We’re extremely excited to grow!” Higgins said.
“Weil’s is a well-established and much-loved antique center that we are happy to take the reins of and continue to grow at a new, larger location. In Salisbury, the center utilized about 20,000 square feet for retail space, and we’ll be using around 30,000 square feet in Allentown. So, we’ll have about a third more space, with at least 160 different tenants.”
The Parkway Shopping Center space will feature new booths, lighting, ADA-compliant ramps, bathrooms, wall and ceiling paint and an HVAC system, Higgins said.
On one wall, Michele painted a colorful mural that will serve as a backdrop for other displayed artwork.
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
“We don’t want this to look like your grandmother’s antique store,” Higgins said.
“We want it be extraordinary and unique. We want to bring an upgraded atmosphere for people to shop in – a unique destination where they could find anything from a piece of silverware to a mounted bear.”
A new window and overhang near the center’s entrance were recently installed, and additional exterior upgrades – including new signage, landscaping and an updated façade featuring reclaimed barnwood – are coming soon, Higgins said.
A Mexican food trailer, Chano’s Tacos & Burritos, that previously operated at Weil’s former site in Salisbury is now operating in the parking lot at the new Allentown location, and a soul food business is planning to set up shop outside as well, Higgins said.
At its new location, Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is tentatively set to operate 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, Higgins said.
Additionally, a 50-table outdoor flea market will operate Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Higgins added.
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
“This new location is going to be really full of life,” Higgins said.
“Just like when Dorothy lands in Oz and everything goes from black-and-white to color, this space will be really vibrant, welcoming and entirely different than what it looked like at the start. Michele is an absolutely incredible artist, and her artistic eye makes everything she does appealing to the eye. So, we’re going to make this space beautiful by painting the facade, installing some really nice landscaping and also having around 1,000 square feet of displays outside. Inside, all of the different walkways will flow nicely, allowing people to wander around from booth to booth almost like they’re visiting different rooms of a house. So, it’ll be an elevated shopping experience, for sure.”
Weil Antique Center opened in November 2002 in a converted warehouse, just off Lehigh Street, in Salisbury Township.
Rick and Cindy Weil got their start in the retail industry more than 40 years ago, starting out with a clock shop – Weil Clocks – in 1983.
Weil Antique Center is pictured at its original location at 2200 31st St. SW in Salisbury Township.
The full-service clock shop operated at a couple of locations on Lehigh Street, including the Parkway Shopping Center, before the Weils expanded operations with the multi-vendor antique market in the early 2000s, Cindy said.
Vinart Dealerships, which operates several nearby auto dealerships on Lehigh Street, purchased the property on 31st Street Southwest in late 2023 and is wrapping the site into its automotive operations, according to Andrew Wright, managing partner of Vinart.
At its new location in Allentown, the antique center will feature vendors from the original Weil Antique Center as well as new vendors carrying “even more really cool, one-of-a-kind items,” Higgins said.
Shoppers will be able to browse aisles of unique finds, including furniture, storage chests, baskets, lamps, clothing, jewelry, blankets, books, dolls, toys, hand tools, industrial pieces, pottery, cookware, glassware, tableware, kitchen accessories, vases, jugs, wall art, sports memorabilia, figurines and other decorative pieces.
Additionally, the Weils will continue selling a wide array of clocks at the center’s new location.
Vendors are putting their own personal touches on the booths, and Higgins and Vrentas are encouraging them to utilize the open airspace above the booths by hanging unique lights, merchandise and decorative pieces.
“Each booth will be a little different, and that’s what we want,” Higgins said.
“We want this to become an organic environment where everything flows together in a natural way. So, we’re giving tenants the freedom to personalize their spaces with painted floors, unique shelving and other design elements, and we’re also utilizing a lot of recycled materials. The goal is to give the market an original, eccentric and intentionally non-uniform finish.”
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques will feature large pieces of artwork showcasing vintage images of Dorney Park, downtown Allentown and other Lehigh Valley scenes.
Vendors are gradually moving items into booths as they become ready for occupancy, and the center’s unique look is already taking shape with colorful walls and unique elements such as vintage signs, stained glass lamps, suspended disco balls and old wood from a picket fence.
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
“The wood has a checkered pattern from where the rail portions of the fence were not painted,” Higgins said. “So, it ends up having a funky, folk art kind of appearance.”
Higgins, who lives just outside Doylestown, has a longtime passion for collecting antiques and previously operated other antique stores – including DogHouse Antiques in the New Hope area – over the past few decades.
“Since I was a young boy, I’ve had an appreciation for unique items that tell a story,” Higgins said.
“I remember when my grandmother was getting older, she wanted to move in with one of my aunts, and so she dispersed a lot of her goods to an auction. My parents let me go to the auction, and I bought some of my grandmother’s stuff when I was 12 years old. So, I’ve been into collecting antiques since childhood, and my passion for it has only grown over the years. The items that I’m really drawn to are the ones that are interesting and unique, items that people say, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen that before!’
Higgins and Vrentas met last winter at the Riegelsville Inn, where the two “immediately clicked,” Higgins said.
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
It was a Wednesday night, and the restaurant was hosting its “Hot Acoustic Jam,” a weekly event where singers and musicians of all ages, styles and abilities are welcome to perform.
“A friend of mine had encouraged me to come out over the winter, and not long after I entered the restaurant, she had asked me to dance,” Higgins said.
“There’s not much room to dance, but I guess I impressed her enough because I got her phone number. Ever since then, she has blown me away tenfold. She’s a really fantastic artist, a world traveler and a small business owner, operating Lift Easton yoga and massage studio. Her world experience and positive outlook on life are just mesmerizing.”
At Weil’s Doghouse Antiques, Higgins and Vrentas will sell some of their own pieces alongside the other vendors’ items.
Individuals will be able to shop antique furniture, primitives, artwork, home decor, taxidermy mounts and more.
Weil’s Doghouse Antiques is coming soon to 1471 Lehigh St. in Allentown. Pictured is the center under development in late November.
Ryan Kneller
Unique pieces will include mounted bears, stained glass lamps and a 12-foot biplane that will be hung from the ceiling, Higgins said.
“If a piece is even somewhat unique or exotic, I’m usually interested in it,” Higgins said.
“I have a fine arts degree, which helps me to make displays appealing to the eye. So, we’ll probably have a couch, a bookcase, some table lamps, a rug and other items that help people imagine how certain pieces would look in their own homes. With all of the other booths that will fill the space, people will almost certainly find something that speaks to them.”
For the latest Weil’s Doghouse Antiques updates, including progress and opening announcements, follow the business’ pages on Facebook and Instagram.