POULSBO — Sometimes it takes something awful to make you re-evaluate your life.

That’s what happened to Paul Korsak, owner of the Poulsbo Antique Mall on Anderson Parkway in downtown Poulsbo. After enduring an illness recently, he decided that it was time to sell his business.

“In October, I became sick with sepsis, a bacterial disease in the blood,” Korsak said.

“For a time, it was touch-and-go. That made me and my wife think about how we wanted to spend the rest of our years. We decided it was time to retire and take time for ourselves.”

Korsak has owned and operated the Poulsbo Antique Mall for 20 years. Although he leases the space where the mall is located, everything inside — including the fixtures, some of the antiques and computers — belongs to him.

He does have 30 vendors who lease space from him and about 20 other merchants who sell items on consignment. A buyer of the business would receive all that Korsak owns, and the rights to the business name. The buyer would negotiate with the vendors on sales percentages, and would have to re-negotiate a lease with the building’s owner.

“Pretty much, this has been a one-man operation,” he said of running the business. “My wife works elsewhere and my three sons are now grown. When they were younger, they did work at the store, learning things like how to make change.”

Two sons are teachers and one is an engineer.

Korsak said he has to be out of the building by Dec. 31 if a buyer isn’t found.

“All the vendors know that,” he said.

If no buyer is found, Korsak said he hopes he doesn’t bring many items home with him.

“Things are on sale until the end of the month,” he said. “If something really nice is left, I may bring it home. But otherwise, Goodwill will get a bunch.”

After 20 years in the business, Korsak said there’s nothing left in the inventory that has sentimental meaning to him.

“Those things are already at my house,” he joked.

Before owning the business, Korsak wasn’t an antique collector.

“My mom and my aunt were,” he said. “I always figured that if I ever got low on inventory, I’d have to hit them up. But that never happened because there’s plenty of great antiques in this area.”

His mother, who is 91 and in his care, collected antique furniture and plates.

“Things you could use,” he said. “She collected to use them, not just to collect them.”

Prior to the store, Korsak worked at the Suquamish Village Square.

“I wanted to find something that was less stressful and that the family could help out with,” he said.

His wife also worked through the years — at Macy’s, at a dentist’s office, and now as a part-time fragrance model at department stores.

Korsak said the antique business is a great business to be in.

“It’s a nice business for somebody who likes people,” he said. “The rent is taken care of by the (fees paid by) vendors. At the end go the month, what you’ve sold is profit.”

If he was younger, Korsak said he’d stay in the business.

“Having a serious sickness sheds light on a lot of things,” he said. “My wife and I just want to have some time to do a lot of the things that we haven’t been able to do while we were working.”

Potential buyers can contact Korsak at the store, 18955 Anderson Parkway, Poulsbo, or call 360-779-4858.