Taimi Ranta has owned the Curious Goods building for about 35 years. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

A widely photographed building on one of the funkiest street corners in Superior is up for sale after a long run as an antique store, warehouse and spare apartment.

The Curious Goods building, 1717 Winter St., just off Tower Avenue, has been put up for sale by owner Taimi Ranta after about 35 years of using the property for her antique and vintage sales business. While Curious Goods featured an enticing and colorful storefront the space has been used only as a warehouse for the past two decades.

A RE/MAX listing sets the price for the historic, two-story building at $247,500.

Ranta said she purchased the property in the late 1980s as a commercial space for an antique business she operated with her late husband, John Owen. “I did flea markets but I didn’t have an actual location,” she said. “My husband — who had been somewhat of a hoarder — kind of led us into the business. Because you get so much stuff, pretty soon you gotta get this stuff going.”

The store was named “Curious Goods” and Ranta used vintage lettering to create its now iconic sign. The sign proved to be a good match with the seafoam-green metal siding installed by previous owner Curtis Wicklund. The colorful building along with its neighbor — the historic Rose Hotel — has made the stretch of Winter Street a popular subject for area artists and photographers.

“(Wicklund) had that green siding — he had a whole lot of it — but after he passed they had a big auction,” said Ranta. “I should have went over there and bought more.”

Curious Goods operated as a antique store for about 10 years before serving as an antique warehouse beginning in 2003.

Curious Goods operated as a standard antique store for more than 10 years but Ranta closed the space to walk-in shoppers sometime around 2003. The internet and eBay eliminated the need for stocking shelves, open hours and help behind the counter.

“eBay became really popular, but you have to have a place where all your stuff is located and so we used it for an eBay staging area — it was more of a warehouse,” she said.

Ranta said the antique business has continued to change. Amazon now dominates the sales scene and younger people aren’t as interested in collecting. “I just don’t think they want grandma’s old dishes that they have to move around and keep from getting broken,” she said. “A lot of things aren’t as popular that once were.”

Douglas County Historical Society records show the Curious Goods building was constructed in 1901 by a fire insurance company named Lloney & Peckham. The 2,200-square-foot building features retail space on the ground floor and an apartment loft on the second floor.

A second floor apartment features a kitchen with funky wallpaper.

“It’s a place to get a good start,” said Ranta. “You can live upstairs here and just get up in the morning and you’re at your business.”

“I can’t take care of it anymore,” she said. “I’m not using it to its full potential and the way everything is developing around Superior here it would be nice to see it get a good use, be a nice shop, fit in around here. I’d like to see somebody else get a start.”

Real estate agent Tom Acton said the property needs some improvements and upgrades but its smaller size, two-floor setup and downtown location make it a good buy. “Because it’s configured this way, these are kind of hard to find,” he said. “It’s sort of a unique place where you could actually work and live above it.”

“Being next to the Rose Hotel is kind of cool too,” he said.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Rose Hotel was built in 1911. Recently, the building has been used as an antique warehouse. Its owner is currently renovating the property and plans to open rooms for vacation rentals.

The historic Rose Hotel is adjacent to the Curious Goods building on Winter Street. The empty lot to the west was once home to First National Bank.

On the other side of the Curious Goods building, a small section of green space sits on the northeast corner of Tower Avenue and Winter Street.

Douglas County Historical Society Business Manager Jon Winter said the empty corner was home to the First National Bank. “It makes a lot of sense,” he said. “A lot of times you’d have an insurance business close to a bank. Sometimes they were right in the bank.”

According to Superior street directories, the bank moved south on Tower Avenue in 1955. It eventually built a new building on the corner of Tower and Belknap Street in 1972, now home to BMO Bank. The original First National Bank building was demolished in 1971.

Street directories show 1717 Winter Street operated as an insurance and real estate office until 1959. The building housed a freight and salvage operation, a gun supply store and a locksmith before it became a retail store in the 1980s.