Treasures & Trash Closing its Doors

After 16 years of selling antiques and collectibles—and being the go-to place for Halloween decorations—Treasures & Trash in downtown Libertyville is closing its doors.

Owner Cynthia Chicca of Mettawa is retiring to Texas.

"It's been a lot of fun," said Chicca.

She opened the shop 20 years ago in Deerfield. Treasures & Trash was located there for four years before redevelopment at the site resulted in Chicca needing to move her store.

Chicca said the Libertyville store was always jam-packed with a variety of items.

"My purpose was to find loving homes for things that people didn't want anymore," she said.

The store's Halloween decor, Chicca said, has always been particularly popular.

"That's what kept the doors open," she said."Nobody did Halloween like I did."

The most unique items in her shop have been the Claudio Jimenez "Day of the Dead" retablos, which are diorama-type decorations adorned with lots of skeletons.

And, of course, there's the large skeleton that can be seen crawling on the building's Milwaukee Avenue-facing facade. Chicca said customers have inquired about purchasing the skeleton, and she plans to oblige.

Chicca hopes to close the store by June 1. She also needs to sell the building. Most of the store's inventory, save for some consignment items, is 50 percent off.

She said she'll miss the business.

"People for the last 16 years have been faithful," said Chicca. "Those are the people I'm going to miss."

She'll especially miss the children who stopped by the store to check out the Halloween decorations.

"They'd see me (on the street) and say, there goes the Halloween lady," said Chicca.

What was the most interesting thing you found at Treasures & Trash? Tell us in the comment section.