Picker Joe's Antique Mall Relocates to a New Savannah Spot

Picker Joe's Antique Mall & Vintage Market swapped its longtime Starland footprint for a larger storefront on Savannah's southside, reopening at 66 W. Montgomery Cross Road on February 12, 2026, nearly a year after closing its doors at 217 E. 41st Street. The move gives owner James Plumlee room to accommodate 65 professional pickers and a rolling inventory of roughly 45,000 items spanning vintage jewelry, mid-century furniture, architectural salvage, artwork, and collectibles.

Plumlee's path to running one of Savannah's more ambitious antique operations started modestly, more than a decade ago, as a hobby selling vintage aviation pieces at the Wright Square Vintage and Retro Mall. The E. 41st Street location in the Starland District became the business's home as that neighborhood hit its stride around 2015, precisely when Plumlee was signing his lease there. Starland, a roughly 35-block corridor running south of Forsyth up to Victory Drive, had been revitalizing since the late 1990s and by that point was drawing restaurants, bars, coffee shops, comedy venues, and galleries to its streets.

The same growth that made Starland appealing eventually made it untenable. Parking was a persistent problem at the E. 41st Street space, and rising rents began pushing other businesses out of the district alongside Picker Joe's. Plumlee has watched that pattern continue. "It's like anything else," he said. "The prices of everything new are going up so dramatically that's why a lot of businesses are moving out, but it happens everywhere. It's not just here, but in Savannah, you see it now. The southside is growing, and that's a direct result of people moving out here and continuing to spread out."

Plumlee announced the upcoming move on May 2, 2025, and posted a February 8, 2026 update confirming the new location would open four days later. The store opened as scheduled on February 12 with regular hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

The new space is larger than its predecessor and, according to Picker Joe's own promotional materials, carries thousands of items that cycle through daily. What draws Plumlee to the business is precisely that unpredictability. "That's one thing I like about the business, because it's not a stagnant, day-in, day-out same thing," he said. "Everyday is different. You ever know who's going to come through the door."

Plumlee describes himself as selective about which pickers join the operation, a curatorial instinct he credits for the diversity of items on the floor at any given time. The new location also houses an in-store ice cream and coffee shop offering milkshakes, floats, lattes, espressos, iced coffee, and vintage sodas, an amenity that positions the mall as a longer-visit destination rather than a quick browse.

Picker Joe's website claims the title of "Voted best Antique Store in Georgia" and promotes itself as "Savannah's most award winning antique mall," though neither claim is accompanied by a named awarding body or a specific year. Those promotional assertions aside, the scale of the operation, 65 pickers feeding a constantly turning inventory that includes vintage jewelry alongside architectural salvage and mid-century furniture, reflects genuine growth from what began as a weekend hobby with aviation collectibles.