Frontenac's Ziern-Hanon Offers Rare Books, European Furniture

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Central Corridor Haunts, a weekly column focusing on small businesses in Clayton, Richmond Heights, Ladue and Frontenac.

We hope you learn about places that you previously didn’t know or learn something new about a familiar haunt.

This week’s featured business is Ziern-Hanon Galleries in Frontenac.

How long have you been in business?
Since 1932. Up until 1993, it was known as Ziern Galleries.

How many employees do you have?
Two

How did Ziern-Hanon Galleries get started?
Arthur Ziern was selling encyclopedias, and he would exchange them for people’s old books. Some of these books have turned out to be rare. We now have around 15,000 rare books, including first editions, which we sell at our location on Clayton as well as through the Internet.

How would you describe your business to potential customers?
We sell rare books from our Frontenac location and sell paintings, French and English furniture, and antiques at two malls: and the Maplewood antique mall.

What do you offer that’s different or unique?
Inherited antiques and accessories from France and England. These are authentic antiques.

How has technology affected your business?
It has made it a lot easier. We have a lot of accessories, which are easy to sell on the Internet. We do ship a lot of French antique furniture.

We sell our books online too.  We are part of American Book Exchange.

What is the future of small business in Mid-County in St. Louis? 
I think it’ll be great once the economy comes back. It may take two to three years to get there, to get unemployment back to 3 percent. But the really rich aren’t hurting. We still have collectors who buy antiques.

WHAT

Next week: We will explore Clayton's .