Long before it held display cases of depression glass and shelves of vintage toys, the building at 424 High Street in Burlington, New Jersey spent decades selling cars. Built between 1915 and 1924, the structure operated as one of the world’s earliest automobile dealerships, most recently as the Anderson Motors Company Chrysler Plymouth showroom, until it closed in 1972 and sat condemned for years afterward. Owner Scott Carlbon bought the building and spent two and a half years restoring it before opening the Historic Burlington Antiques and Art Emporium in June 2001, and that automotive past is still visible overhead: the showroom floor sits under a 35 foot arched pine ceiling framed by exposed brick and wooden trusses, a scale of space that few antique malls anywhere can match.
Today the Emporium houses more than 65 individual antique and collectibles dealers spread across roughly 14,000 to 15,000 square feet, making it one of the larger multi dealer shops in South Jersey. The combined inventory covers furniture, primitives, toys, glassware, pottery, model trains, books, military collectibles, vintage radios, paintings and photographs, kitchenware, depression glass, china, dolls, old magazines, clocks, and jewelry, essentially the full spread of what a serious antiques hunter expects to find across dozens of dealer booths rather than a single shop’s narrower focus.
The location is easy to reach: about two miles from the Burlington Bristol Bridge, five miles from Exit 5 of the New Jersey Turnpike, and just one block from the Riverline light rail’s Burlington train station, with the Delaware River itself only two blocks away. The Emporium is open every day of the week, including holidays, from 11 am to 5 pm, a schedule that notably holds even on Mondays, when many antique malls close. The building has no air conditioning, so on the hottest summer days it closes rather than risk both the merchandise and the visitors, a policy that says something about the age and character of the space itself.
Beyond the sales floor, the Emporium runs an outdoor courtyard stocked with garden items and seasonal displays, offers complimentary refreshments to browsing customers, and hosts bi annual antique shows in addition to online auctions for shoppers who cannot make the trip in person. Locally, the shop has been recognized as Burlington’s Best antique shop for more than eight years running, a streak that reflects the loyalty of dealers and customers who have kept the space full since its restoration.
For anyone exploring Burlington County’s antiques scene, the Historic Burlington Antiques and Art Emporium combines a rare piece of early automotive architecture with more than 65 dealers and a river town location near the Riverline station, making it a destination stop rather than a quick browse. It stands as one of South Jersey’s largest multi dealer antique malls, housed in a century old landmark building just steps from the Delaware River.
