Ownership changed hands at 1325 Matthews-Mint Hill Road in the spring of 2022, but the antique dealer mall sitting there did not start from scratch. For three decades the space operated as Antique Alley under owner Bonnie Henley, who built it into what locals still refer to as the oldest antique dealer mall in the Charlotte area before retiring at the end of March 2022. Stephen and Katie Hardister took over the space and relaunched it as The Brass Grasshopper, a name change meant to signal a fresh chapter while keeping faith with the shop Henley spent thirty years building. The new owners have been explicit about wanting to make her, and the generations of regulars who shopped there over the years, proud of what comes next.
That continuity matters for anyone who already knew the space as Antique Alley, because it means the multi-dealer format carried over intact. The Brass Grasshopper still bills itself as home to the area’s largest collection of antiques, vintage items, and local goods, spread across booths run by independent dealers rather than a single curated inventory. That structure is what lets a mall like this cover so much ground at once, from traditional antique furniture and glassware to vintage collectibles and locally made goods, all under one Matthews roof, with the specific mix shifting as dealers turn over their booths.
Getting there is straightforward for anyone coming from Charlotte: the shop sits about half a mile from Interstate 485, reachable by taking exit 51A and following the corridor past familiar landmarks like a Wendy’s and a Bojangles before turning at the first light, with the building sitting a block down on the right. That half-mile buffer from the interstate keeps the location convenient without putting it directly on a busy commercial strip, which suits a browsing-heavy shopping trip better than a quick highway-exit stop would.
The mall’s hours reflect a working antique business rather than a retail chain’s standard schedule: open Monday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with Sunday hours running a shorter 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. window. Shoppers can reach the office at 704-847-3003, or the shop’s mobile line at 704-281-2455, to confirm hours or ask about specific dealer booths before making the trip out to Matthews-Mint Hill Road.
What makes The Brass Grasshopper worth tracking is less about being new and more about being a continuation, a thirty-year-old Charlotte-area institution that changed its name and its owners without losing the dealer-mall format that made it a destination in the first place. For repeat visitors and first-time browsers alike, that blend of longstanding local history and a fresh ownership team gives the shop a foot in both the past and the present. The Brass Grasshopper in Matthews, North Carolina is a multi-dealer antique mall built on the thirty-year foundation of the former Antique Alley, offering one of the Charlotte area’s largest and longest-running collections of antiques, vintage goods, and local finds.
