I think of antique collectors as junk lovers. Carrying the weight of all the stuff we don't want anymore and that they have hand picked over for value. Downtown Tacoma, there are a few places I like to go that support these antique collectors. The first one is by Tully's Coffee and next to Broadway and the Pantages Theater. It has a sign out front that says, "We collect old toys" or something to the like of that. Inside is all the wanders of your parent's childhood and some of your own. It's a great place to go shopping for my parent's and my little sister's birthday. Everyone has a hobby or collects something. Well this is the place to find it.
The minute you walk in, you are automatically in shock because every inch of the store is cluttered with little and bit trinkits. There are posters above you advertising a 50's movie. 500 peices of china on shelves in front of you. Books..oh there are always old books and comic books that are colorful and smell like delicacy and tinted with time. I love going to this antique shop because it outdoes Hallmark. This stuff isn't just shipped over from China and into the giant retail store. It is historic, always unique and the graphics/logos/fonts are original of their time, not ours. Items in these stores set themselves apart that way. When you go into an antique shop, you are going to find something you have never seen before but has been around for ages.
The other great benefit to antiquing is the cheapness of it, if your smart. You can find great treasures for a little price. I found an elvis postcard that I mailed to my boyfreind. It was 50 cents. It's 4 dollars to buy a nice hallmark greeting card. There are many expensive antiques which is why I think some people think of antiques of as at a rich man's auction weekend. This is true, there is the antique roadshow where things are priced for the price of people's cars. However, small shops in the downtown Tacoma in Olympia don't charge a whole lot for a treasure you'd love to take home that you've found.
I also found a retro hot topic/metro/spencers antique shop called the What the shop. Most of it was vulgar, sexual and offensive to some degree to me, but it was still interesting to see movie posters, postcards, records, material, costumes and out there stuff from decades to go. A little shop of rebellion is what I call it. She had some new stuff that she charged some now times prices for, but they were scattered in between the collector's edition of John Wayne hard posters.
The last one that I would like to mention, besides Lulu's which is just a fun little girly shop, is the lady with all the old celebrity clothes. In fact, a lot of her clothing is pictured as a version a star wore in a magazine. I love the fur, the velvet hats and pointy tiny shoes. Women were so small back then.I doubt anything but the coats would fit me in that store, but I had fun preening about the color oreinted complete outfits. Not to mention the incredible collection of jewlery. Her prices were up there, but the clothes were of high qaulity and high priced originally.
So if your looking for a cheap way to have fun and treasure hunt for an afternoon. Visit Tacoma's Antique shops. Who knows you may find your next outfit, interior decorations or stationary!
