After announcing the closure of their Cape Coral location at the end of September, the Southwest Florida Military Museum & Library has found a temporary new home.

Members of the museum that held the largest collection of wartime memorabilia and relics in the area will pack up and head across the river to the Edison Mall in Fort Myers.

To help pay for moving costs and future endeavors, the museum will hold a relocation and book sale this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day at the soon-to-be-vacated building on Leonard Street.

The museum will be selling roughly 6,000 books ($3 hardcopy, $1 paperback) covering every war era, up to current conflicts, along with items such as office equipment, shelving, bookcases, display cases, tables, chairs, tools, appliances, computers and more. No memorabilia will be sold, as is it to be relocated.

Santillo said the museum was contacted by Washington Prime Group, owners of Edison Mall, to move into their facility.

“We were thrilled,” said Ralph Santillo, Invest in America’s Veterans Foundation and museum CEO and founder. “They were very generous with us. It floored me to get that call. We didn’t know exactly what we were going to do. We were looking for something in the Cape but there was nothing really reasonable for us at this time.”

They will now occupy the old Disney store and hopefully expand after the new year, Santillo said.

“It’s a temporary spot for us,” Santillo said. “It’s smaller than we need but it’s good for right now. The idea is that if everything goes right, after the first of the year they’ll open up a bigger space for us.”

Santillo hopes to display 50% of what was presented at the former location but is excited about the foot traffic at the mall. They will bring items from every era and create a unique presentation in their new space.

“We are excited to be a part of helping to preserve history and to partner with the Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library,” said Washington Prime Group General Manager Brad Lunn. “We take pride in the local relationships that we have been able to cultivate over the last 55 years. The Edison Mall has always focused on giving back to the community. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we have been working with local charities and hosting events that help those in need within the greater Lee County area.

“Earlier this year, we met with the great team at the Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library about a ‘Hometown Heroes’ event we were hosting at the mall and during that meeting we learned about their need for a place to house the military museum. We continued to stay in contact with the museum team and ultimately were able to work with them on a space at the Edison Mall that will house the Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library going forward.”

The museum also hopes to bring back its traveling museum, as a bus was donated from a Collier County organization for their use.

“This bus is perfect for us,” Santillo said. “It’s the right size and in good shape and good condition. We’ll be bringing back our traveling museum.”

Another way the museum is managing the enormous amount of memorabilia and artifacts in its possession is to create satellite displays around Southwest Florida.

Santillo said local veteran organizations such as the American Legion and other venues like The Shell Factory will have rotating displays provided by the museum on their premises.

“We think that’s going to be a pretty nice way to keep our name here locally in Cape Coral and throughout the region,” Santillo said. “We’ll have satellite exhibits in various local veteran organizations, and we have about a dozen signed up as of now. It’ll be revolving. We’ll move them around so it’s fresh.”

The museum will start bringing items over to the mall this week and Santillo hopes for a grand opening in early November, if not the first of the month.

As for the second arm of the museum, the Invest in America’s Veterans Foundation, Santillo said he plans on finding an office space in Cape Coral to continue to serve local veterans.

The relocation and book sale is at 4820 Leonard St.

Visit www.swflmm.org for more information.

–Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj