Yeah, we totally lucked into finding the Antique Warehouse Mall in Memphis TN. We were just winding up our vacation and accidentally drove through Memphis. The Girlfriend had talked me into staying overnight in the area and while we were absorbing the last of cable TV we'd be enjoying for a while when I found this place on the internet.
It definitely looked promising but antique malls are more about antiques and crafty stuff than vintage
modern on the whole. It's part of the fun...finding the one or two vintage modern smalls in each of
the booths. On rare occasions you'll find a booth or two dedicated to vintage modern or a real good
mix of it and antiques. This joint was rife with it! Cha-ching! HeShootsHeScores!!!!
Man, this table is right up my alley. It's got those little built in utensil drawers on each end. How cool.
The buffet and chairs...eh, I wouldn't kick them outta bed but I'm not blown over by them either. That
price might look steep but I get the feeling that it's actually a bargain.
Some of the items were kinda pricey while other pieces a few feet away were absolute bargains.
Anybody got an ID on that first table? It has the look of a Lane piece but I don't think it had a label
or mark on the bottom. Lane made lots of different styles. I'm always being surprised by a new
vintage mod Lane table find.
After my initial rush upon walking in and seeing the Romweber table, chairs and buffet then spotting
the two smaller tables...things kinda slowed down. These two pieces appealed to me but didn't
scream "take me home". The atomic style record rack and the lovely chartreuse Pyrex set of bowls
were definitely priced right. At least I knew good bargains were here to be found. I thought it was
gonna be like all the other malls. I was gonna have to dig.
Oh, but check this out! It's like they knew I was coming! A whole rack of good stuff to make that
wood shine!
Then I turned around and the booth behind me had these two pieces of Russel Wright. Both were
absolute steals too. I snatched the pitcher off the shelf and greedily went over it looking for the
inevitable chip or crack. At $25 it had to be messed up right? Nope! And this booth had a 25% off
sale. What?!?! That made it less than $20. I didn't grab up the plastic platter since I only barely
collect plastic Russel Wright stuff. This would look a little out of place in my collection (which I am in
the process of editing...so if you need a cream pitcher or a couple chartreuse dinner plates, let me
know!).
Around the next corner I found tons of great barware! If my personal collection didn't already look
like this and wasn't ALWAYS GROWING I might have picked up a few pieces of the chrome fade
glassware. Then there is the ubiquitous Fiestaware. What's the deal with this. Down there in North
Carolina you couldn't walk down the street without tripping over a piece of Fiesta! It's
EVERYWHERE! I think there is / was a factory in mid Missouri because you can find factory seconds
by the carload in the antique malls in and around Columbia Mo. I'm wondering if this is the same
situation in this area. Oh...sweet china cab too!
Cute little '50s-ish light sconce. Not a bad price on that. I got maybe five of these floating around
here somewhere. I gotta do something with them or sell them.
If you collect Starglow this pyrex coffee decanter would match so nicely! Unlike most of the pieces
you find at the thrift store this one had it's (metal) lid. It was very nice. It didn't make the cut though.
Like I said, this was at the end of our two week roadtrip vacation and funds were getting thin.
I'm such a sucker for CoCo Joes tiki stuff. If I didn't already have a set of even better CoCo Joes
bookends I might have popped for these. Some other lucky tiki collector will get to snatch these up.
This was an anomaly. I like the little cabinet but $85? Why? It's not in excellent condition either.
Even in excellent shape I think $85 would be pushing it. ::shrugg:: Maybe the seller knows
something I don't. I don't know everthing...that's for sure! Just enough to frustrate and sometimes
surprise myself.
Now this is more like it! $38 for a wall mount, counter weighted pull down saucer light! Sweet deal. It
went on my list of "if I don't find anything better" items to perhaps go back for. I didn't go back for it.
What does that tell you about what I was about to find?
Yup, that's when I ran into the Ben Seibel coffee pot! $14? Yes, please. Ring me up. The poor
girlfriend. When I find a good booth to start taking pics and digging around she usually gets a
chance to sit down and read her book. Nope. "Baby, can you take this up to the counter for
me.......wait, hold on...grab this too..." etc. etc. etc. She got a little bit of a work out.
Yup, right there next to the Seibel coffee pot was this starburst baking dish. Again, bargain! You
know I got a collection of this pattern right? It's the only Glassbake / Pyrex pattern I truely look for. It
just goes so nicely with my Franciscan Starburst dinnerware.
What might keep me from picking up the other swagged pull down saucer lamp? A pair of matching
swagged pull down saucer lamps! I looked at this one on the wall and just peeked at the price tag
and thought "pass" until the Girlfriend came up to me and asked if what I thought about the set of
them. Set? What set? She put me onto the fact that they were a matched pair! She's such an
awesome Girlfriend! These came home with us. I haven't even unpacked them for cleaning yet.
They likely need rewiring too.
Didn't buy any of this but not cuz it's ugly or anything. I just couldn't bring EVERYTHING home.
Pockets ain't that deep and the car ain't that big. I had to do my picking and choosing carefully.
Note the pink boiled egg slicer!
Cool table set, no? Anybody know anything about these? I forgot to get a pic of the price tag so I
have no idea what they were asking for them. They looked pretty nice.
Is that not a bargain? I LOVE this lamp and not just cuz it looks a little like a pair of bosoms. These,
in a single lamp form, are a classic desk light source. In a double...well that's at least twice as
classically classy!
Yup, you already know. This made the cut and came home with us. It now resides on my night stand
in the bedroom where I regularly roll over and bump it with my elbow.
Weird size for a set of tables. Plant stands? Telephone tables? Put statues on them? Dunno. Priced
a little high IMHO though. But then...that's some pretty blue tile on the tops. Hand made?
There were a couple booths at the end of our loop of the mall that were just way too cool. Again,
I thought a lot of this stuff was priced really good and would have snatched it up but as it was we
spent about $200. That's a LOT more than we spend hardly ever on ANYTHING!
Right across from the booth above was this little guy. Isn't this a Mobler? I seem to recall seeing
this chair on Rhan's blog a while back. Hook us up with the 411 Rhan!
What luck! A three legged table to go with your three legged chair! Pretty cool but kinda shaky. The
top is sorta formed wood and is pretty thin. The legs are attached to that and it wasn't real solid.
Cool looking though!
Cool looking candelabra and black Pyrex! There's something ganked up about a black baking dish
with snowflakes on it. It reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas!
The tag says "vintage '70s" but I'm thinking it's earlier than that. Nice table too. Glass top. Could
use a little refinish love. Nice price.
Fake Barcelona but it still got me wound up. No price tag? What? Dang.
Cool patio side table. Wroughtan? This would go great with my wicker hoop chairs that I have out
front of the house.
Lot's of great things in this little booth. A little more selective and pricey (except maybe that neat
hairpin leg ashtray, nice price!). These last three booths were all next to or across from each other.
I have to wonder if they are all run by the same person.
Well, that's about it. Some very pricey Salem North Star and a really cool globe wrap up this little
tour. If you like what ya see, give them a visit! Tell 'em you saw their shop on Mr. Modtomic. They'll
be all like, "Mr. What?" But after you spend a half hour explaining it to them they'll be like "yeah,
sure...whatever."
I'll mention you the next time we are in there to see what they say! You found our little honey hole. Antique Warehouse is a great place and the owners are reasonable and fair. We run into one of the owners almost weekly at an estate sale, sometimes fighting over the same items. It is never a real fight though as they are in it for the fun just like us. I guess it's ok you came to Memphis to shop since we went to St. Louis a few months ago to get our Pearsall sofa among other things.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have many antique stores here that deal in our vintage. There are two that come to mind, this place and a store called Flashback. I boycott Flashback
Because the owners of that store are not so kind when we see them out at the estate sales. Antique Warehouse is our favorite. We like to go on the second Saturday of the month when they have 20% off everything over $10.
Wow, so many things I'd love to make my own. I love the clock you bought!
ReplyDeleteBack2Ranch - The owners were a lot of fun to talk to. We ended up chatting with them for a short while after settling up our bill and found out that they had once been just booth owners there until they had set up so much booth space in there that (with another booth owner) they decided it would be better to just run the place (and sell their stuff too)! Next time you make it up this way give me a holler. We can make a day of it. If you've got time we can run all around to the shops and get some dinner.
ReplyDeleteRhan V. - It was hard leaving behind so much. I wake up looking at the little clock every morning (or afternoon, depending on how late I got my post up!).
This post is such a feast for the eyes! It's like MCM porn. I mean that in a good way =) It must have been hard leaving so much behind, but the finds you did take home are awesome.
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun! We don't get up there often, but we'll sure look you up next time we are there.
ReplyDeleteI love that stack of beautiful Texas Ware confetti bowls. I thought that when I moved to Texas I'd be able to find them more easily. Nope. They're quite rare. Maybe if I lived closer to Greenville, near Dallas Plastics where they were made. Anyhow, it would have been hard for me to pass those up (depending on the price tag). Great place. Kind of makes me wish we'd stopped in Memphis on our last roadtrip passing by.
ReplyDelete