We love antique stores, BUT…

There are some things we'd change. In this lighthearted episode of the Gem Finders Podcast, Amber and Shaun open up about the little things that can sometimes cause big frustrations in antique stores - from impossible price stickers to over-stuffed booths, locked cases, and the dreaded “not for sale” tags. But make no mistake - they adore antique shops and owe their business to them. Whether you're an antique store owner, booth vendor, reseller, or casual vintage shopper, this episode dives into honest, constructive insights that aim to improve the antiquing experience for everyone. If you’re passionate about vintage and resale, or just curious about the inner workings of the secondhand world, this one’s for you.

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Episode Transcript: 

Amber:
Welcome to Episode 9 of the Gem Finders podcast. I'm Amber.

Shaun:
I am Shaun.

Amber:
And today, I'm a little nervous about this.

Shaun:
It's supposed to be fun.

Amber:
I know. I'm a little worried about you, haha. We are talking about our antique store pet peeves because we go antiquing so often and we spend so much time at antique stores that we have picked up on a few things that cause a little bit of frustration.

Shaun:
That's putting it lightly.

Amber:
But before we get into anything, we want it to be known that we love antique stores. We appreciate them. We are so happy that they exist. I know that running a store, especially a brick and mortar, is not easy. I know that they go through a lot. I know a lot of them are, you know, a little bit older and they're doing the best that they can. So we're just trying to make this lighthearted and relatable, but it's not that deep—so don't come at us.

Shaun:
No, but in all seriousness, this is meant to be more of a lighthearted episode. We feel like most of the episodes we've done have been very educational and formal, or the last one was a little bit more serious, so we kind of wanted to dial it back a little bit and just have fun with this one. Like she said, obviously we love antique stores. We go to them all the time. We go to so many of them and, you know, there are just some things that we notice that we catch ourselves saying like, “Oh, I really wish they didn't do this.”

And so we discussed a few weeks ago just putting an episode together of a compilation of those things. So it's just meant to be fun. We're not trying to offend anybody, and also most of—if not all—of these things, we understand why they do it. It's just, you know, we wish that there was a better way to do things. But we get it, like it makes sense. But again, it's just meant to be fun. You know, if you wanna give us hate comments, whatever. You haven’t really made it until you have haters, so.

Amber:
And we understand from owning a business that everyone is just doing the best that they can. So like, we totally—we totally get it. It's okay.Here are some of the common issues that we encounter at antique stores. Without further ado...

Shaun:
One of the things that probably drives us the most bonkers is stickers and tape on items. Now we get it. You don't want people to remove price tags, change price tags, things like that. I absolutely understand why you do it, but oh my gosh, does it make our lives so much more difficult. Sometimes those stickers or those pieces of tape have been on there for years, and it is so difficult to get them off of there. Yeah, so it just—it creates so much more work for us and it extends the inventory and the cleaning process by an absurd amount. And it's just—it’s unnecessary.

Amber:
And sometimes it ruins items. Like brass—if a sticker has been there for a while—we try to stay away from the flash glass items, but it could definitely ruin flash glass or anytime an item has like a little bit of gold or painted details on it. Like if it's a lidded dish and there are like seven layers of tape wrapped around it, it does—it takes it off and it ruins it.

Shaun:
If possible, we really love when people use string or a little piece of rope and, you know, tie the tag around a part on the item. That makes it so much easier to just cut it off. And a lot of the time when there is a sticker or a piece of tape on an item, we don't know what's going to be underneath of it. So you know, we might have to buy it and then we get it home and we take it off and there is—you know—it takes some of the finish off or it kind of diminishes the value of the item. So yeah. 

Amber:
It depends. It definitely depends on what it is, but we don't have an ideal solution to offer. It's just something that drives us crazy.

Shaun:
Yeah, we catch ourselves bringing it up quite often.

Amber:
Yes. If there's one thing we're complaining about throughout our day, it's probably a sticker. Also, cases cause us a significant amount of frustration. So if you are one of the people that is stealing from antique stores...

Shaun:
Don't watch this podcast.

Amber:
I really need you to stop, okay? You are making our lives so much more difficult for a couple of reasons. And again, like the first example, I get it. I understand why items are in cases. I know that stealing is a problem, and I'm so sorry that so many stores have a problem with this, because it's not fair to the owners or the vendors. And I think that it is terrible that people are taking advantage of antique stores like that. So I get why cases exist, and I get why vendors need to have them. I totally understand. 

But from a shopper perspective—especially shoppers who, we don't go to one antique store in a day, that's rare—we're going to like four or five if we're having like a full-on sourcing day. And we have to watch our time in those stores, and there are a lot of stores and a lot of scenarios where we don't ask to see items because we don't have time. So if something is in a case, there is a high chance that we're not going to ask to see it, and then we don't buy it.

So I do feel like sometimes it does hinder sales for the vendor. I think it's hard when the store is busy, if there's not enough people who can check people out and help open the cases. I think it's sometimes awkward as a shopper because I feel like I can't really thoroughly look at the piece. I feel like the person is trying to get back to work and they just show me real quick, and I'm like trying to take my time, and they're like, "Do you want it or not?" And I'm like, "Can I have a second?" And you can't ever research it. So that kind of stuff is hard.

Shaun:
They also hover over you a lot.

Amber:
Yeah, and I get it again because they want to make sure that the pieces stay safe and that the shoppers are careful. Again, I totally understand. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the why—I'm just saying that it is hard.

Amber:
And also, please, if you have a case or if you are the worker who is like taking something out of a case, or if you are a customer putting something back in the case, I'm begging you to please turn the price tag around. Nothing is worse than having to ask to see an item in a case when you can't see the price. Like, I want to be able to tell if it's in my budget or not, and it just takes two seconds to just turn the tag around or to position the item in a way where the price tag can be seen. So if you ask to see an item and they're putting it back, just be like, "Oh, let's turn the price tag around for the next customer," please. Because I think that that would definitely help ease the burden of the case situation if the price tags were always visible.

Shaun:
Well, plus it would save time, because if you see that the price is out of the budget, then you don't need to waste the time to ask someone to get the key to open the case in the first place.

Amber:
Yeah, it saves everybody's time, and it's less people handling those items, which is always ideal. Because the more people that handle them, the bigger the chance is that it's going to get chipped or cracked or that something is going to happen. So just help out everyone and put the price tags forward.

Shaun:
Alright, our next point is a very frustrating one. So many antique stores that we try to go to, and it says they're open—we get there and they're not open. Please keep your hours up to date. I know sometimes it's difficult. I know that sometimes there's an emergency and something that is out of your control. I get that. But it happens very frequently with new stores that we're trying to explore that I feel like it is valid to bring up this concern. That it is universal enough that it's not just a coincidence that we encounter occasionally. It is something that we frequently run into.

So you know, if you can keep them up to date on Google, or if you have a Facebook page, if you can keep them up to date on there—or even on Facebook, you can post, you know, "something happened," you know, "had to shut the store down," or something. At least that keeps your customers informed about what's going on. And I mean, we have wasted so much time driving out of our way to go to stores and we get there and they're closed.

Amber:
When they said they would be open.

Shaun:
Yeah.

Amber:
And you could also update the voicemail. That way if somebody calls, the message that they get says your current hours. Like, I know that a lot of antique stores, the owners aren't tech-savvy and I get that, but it is really frustrating as customers. Especially because when we're traveling, we will map out a whole day. And if we see a store that has good reviews, we will go out of our way to stop at it.

And so it can waste a good amount of time to drive and it be closed even though we checked the hours first. So, that's a really big pain point, and I'm sure it happens to a lot of other customers too. I mean, I know that it happens 'cause it's something that we talk to other people about often.

My next pet peeve is that a lot of antique stores are not very friendly to strollers or wheelchairs. The stroller applies to us because we have our niece with us often, and even though she's kind of getting a little bit old for a stroller, I think it's—when we're at an antique store—it's almost an exception, because then she's sitting.

She is sitting. She can color, she can play a game on my phone, she can take pictures—like it's just nice to let her sit, especially when it's an activity that sometimes she's very on board with and sometimes she would rather not be antiquing. And it makes our lives so much easier to be able to push her in a stroller. And we’ve been taking her since she’s been really tiny, and we wouldn’t have a business if it wasn’t for being able to take her with us. It’s one of the reasons that I started reselling in the first place—because I needed something that I could do with her around. And there are so many stores where I can’t safely get the stroller in through the aisle, and we don’t even have a big one. Like, it’s more than an umbrella stroller, but it’s not super, super wide, and there are so many stores where I have to be so careful because there is so much stuff on the floor, there is so much clutter. The aisles are so tiny that like even me as a person, I can barely get through them.

So I wish that is something that more antique stores thought about. And I also—whenever I get frustrated about that—I also am very frustrated that somebody in a wheelchair could not get through a lot of these stores, and they are not very accessible. Even if they have a ramp on the way in, the aisles and the way that the booths are set up are not friendly to somebody who is navigating them in a wheelchair. And I hope that we can continue to advocate for this and that stores will kind of change how they set up so that less people have to deal with this in the future.

Another issue in regards to how booths are set up is when there are things and furniture in the way of being able to get to other things. We see this so often where there are like huge pieces of furniture in front of cases or, you know, big signs in front of cabinets and you can’t open the doors and you can’t even get to it to be able to ask for it to be unlocked. Or you can’t even get to the shelves to be able to see what’s on them—and let alone being able to get to them safely without like breaking anything. There are places of stores that I avoid because I don’t wanna break anything and I don’t feel like I can safely get to that area.

Shaun:
Yeah, we encounter that a lot. All the time. Yeah, I mean, you literally have to crawl. If you would want to try to get something, you would have to crawl, get into a crawl space, move stuff out of the way, crawl some more, move some more stuff—like it's—it’s crazy. I don’t know. I understand maybe wanting to have as much stuff as possible in your booth to sell, but when you have that much stuff and you can’t access other things, it just completely defeats that purpose.

Amber:
Yeah. And you always see the signs that are like, “You break it, you buy it,” but like sometimes I feel like the booths are set up in a way where like it's almost impossible not to break something.

Shaun:
Maybe they want you to break it. Maybe that’s part of their strategy.

Amber:
Maybe. So I think that is so important—making sure that your booth is accessible to anybody to get in, but also making sure that you can access the items and that anybody could access the item safely to, one, improve the customer shopping experience, and two, to avoid anything being broken.

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve tripped over something. And like part of that’s on me because I am clumsy, but like sometimes I look down and I’m like, “That’s literally in the middle of the floor.”

Shaun:
Yeah. Yeah, that happens to me a lot too.

Amber:
And I also think that sometimes these situations are caused by customers not being mindful or not being respectful. So I understand that sometimes many of the points that we brought up here are not the fault of the antique store owner or the booth owner, and sometimes it’s from careless people coming in—and that really sucks too. And I do acknowledge that. I’m sorry that that happens and that there are so many situations where so many of these vendors are pouring their hearts into these booths to try to create the best experience possible—and people ruin it. So I'm sorry if that's something that you're dealing with at whatever store you have a booth at.

Shaun:
Alright, so the next thing is something that is so easily avoidable: just price the items. That's it. That's it! We go to so many stores and so many booths, and there are just items that aren't priced. And I understand that sometimes price tags fall off—sometimes that happens—but we will go into some booths and there are so many items in there that aren't priced that, you know, it's intentional.

Amber:
Or anybody who uses a sticker—we know it didn't just fall off because it's on there. Because they're on there.

Shaun:
To me, it doesn't feel like that big of an ask to ask people to price the items. Because there are so many times where we'll find an item that we're interested in, we look all around, there's no price tag on it, and then we have to take it up to the register. They're like, "Oh, we'll call the vendor," and you know, "they'll get back to us." And sometimes we're in the store for over an hour, and they never get back to them. So that's a lost sale for whoever owns that booth. I feel like if I was the owner of a booth, it would be very worth my time to price every item and make sure that every item is priced when I put it in the booth.

Amber:
That is—it’s a big pain point, especially when we’re traveling, because we can’t just go back tomorrow or next weekend. We probably can’t come back at all. And a lot of times when they call, they’ll be like, “Oh, will you be in the area tomorrow?” And we’re like, no, we’re driving home. Like, we—we can’t come back. So it’s—we’ve had a lot of heartbreaks over that.

Shaun:
Yeah, we’ve had to leave a lot of items behind that we were very interested in because we just weren’t able to get a price on it.

Amber:
Yeah, it hurts. It stings. 

On another note relating to pricing—we love when vendors have sales in their booths. It's so nice to pick up something you like and then look around and be like, “Oh, there's a sign for 20% off.” However, it is very frustrating as a shopper when the checkout process is not on top of those sales and discounts. A lot of times, almost every time, we’ll ask and be like, “Do you have a list or are the discounts already in your system?” And they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, you’re good.” And it's really hard to keep track of everything because sometimes we're putting 20, 30, 40 items up at checkout, so it's hard to in real time monitor if we're getting all of the discounts that we should be getting.

Shaun:
We know we should, though.

Amber:
We know we should be doing a better job, but I also feel like the antique stores should be doing a better job sometimes. And we’ll get home and be like, “Oh, that item was supposed to be discounted,” and it wasn’t. Everybody has the right and deserves to price their items at whatever they need to, but it is frustrating when you make the decision to buy something based off of a discount or a sale going on in the booth—and then you don’t end up getting that discount. So we will do a better job on our end, but any antique stores or booth owners that are listening—we’d appreciate it if you could work on that on your end too.

Shaun:
And it’s also not just discounts. You know, sometimes we’ll get double charged for things. Every once in a while, an item is missing—you know, they didn’t even charge us for an item. I just feel like overall there needs to be a more efficient method. I feel like they all use very similar systems for the most part, where you bring the items up, they take the tags off, they note the vendor number and the description of the item that’s on the tag—and that’s it. I remember we went to one, um, when we were on vacation, and they had barcodes on everything. And that was great! You know, we took it up and they scanned the barcode and it was just like at a regular store. And that was the fastest antique store checkout that we’ve ever had. And it just—it was so nice. I wish—I know that’s complicated to implement, especially because, you know, you have so many vendors in a lot of these antique stores, and to coordinate that with everybody. I'm sure that would be crazy.

Amber:
—and probably expensive.

Shaun:
I don’t know what a system like that would cost. Yeah, but just some kind of more efficient method would be beneficial for everybody. Because, you know, sometimes we get the short end of the stick. Sometimes the vendors get the short end of the stick, which means that the store overall gets the short end of the stick. So, you know, I just feel like it would help everybody out if there was some kind of better process.

Amber:
I agree. And I always feel really bad when we buy a lot from a store and we are really holding up the checkout line.

Shaun:
Oh yeah.

Amber:
I'm like looking at everybody behind us like, "I'm so sorry." I'm happy that we're able to support a store like that and be able to buy so many items—it’s always exciting when we walk into a store and find that many things that we want to buy—but sometimes I feel so much guilt. We could be up there for 30 minutes at checkout by the time they write everything down and wrap everything. And like, sometimes they’re talking to us and sometimes I just feel like that process is very lengthy.

And when there are other people waiting in line—we have had a couple situations where people have been in line and then they've left because we are taking so long at checkout. Sometimes, if somebody only has a few items and I see them behind us, I'm like, "Please go. We're gonna be a bit. We're gonna—we're gonna need some time up here." So I feel really bad. And I feel bad that the store loses out on sales sometimes because larger checkout orders take so long.

Shaun:
Yeah, we always try to be mindful of everybody that’s around us and what they have, and we try to let anybody go—but a lot of it’s out of our hands. You know, there’s only so much we can do.

Amber:
So another situation where I don’t know what the best solution is, but I do feel like it impacts stores, vendors, and customers when there is kind of so much room for error at checkout.

Shaun:
We'll just keep riding this pricing and checkout theme because the next item is when we get receipts that aren't itemized. I know for a casual shopper, that's probably not a big deal. You know, they’re just buying items to add to their home. But for somebody who is reselling, it is really important for us to have the receipts itemized so that we can see the individual price of every item while we're inventorying it.

Again, some of that responsibility lies on our shoulders. We should be doing a better job of noting that while we’re in the stores—taking pictures of the items and any discounts and things like that. So I get that that necessarily shouldn’t have to be the store’s responsibility.

But it is frustrating when we don’t notice it at the time. And sometimes, if we’re on a trip and we get back days later and we’re doing inventory and then we see that the receipt wasn’t itemized, we’re like, “Oh boy. Did we take note—mental notes—of what each item cost?” And most of the time, we didn’t. So again, it makes the inventory process a lot more complicated and lengthy. And it would just be great if every receipt could be itemized.

Amber:
Yeah. And sometimes the tax is just lumped in with the final price of the receipt. So we have to do a lot of backwards math to even figure out what the total was before the tax was added. Again, we get it. We understand that the antique stores are just doing the best that they can, and a lot of them are dealing with outdated systems. And, you know, again, no hate to anybody—just... it just makes it hard.

Amber:
I know this is a big one for a lot of people. We talk to people about this all the time. And that is—when an item has a tag that says NFS or "not for sale."

Shaun:
It's a heartbreaker.

Amber:
The heartbreak is real and it continues—especially if you go back to that store and you see it again and again and again, and you’re so sad that it’s not for sale. We run into this a lot with easels, mirror trays, stands. We’ve seen some absolutely incredible pieces that I probably would have paid any amount of money for—and they’re not for sale. And I get it, because if I had a booth, I would want it to be pretty. And I would want to display a painting or a piece of artwork on a beautiful easel—I 100% get that. Especially because there’s only so much you can do with plain display items, and I feel like having some special antique or vintage tools for displaying does really make a difference. Especially in those booths where I walk in and I’m like, “Wow, this is so well styled.” But as a shopper, it does sting. 

And I wish that the vendors would just like... price those items really, really high. Like, what’s your “let it go” price? Because I might pay it.

Shaun:
I think the most frustrating part of NFS items for me is when we see the same “not for sale” item multiple times with nothing on it—like an easel that’s sitting there with nothing on it. Like, we will go back, you know, multiple times and there’s still nothing on it. And it’s like... okay, I get that you want it here to display something, but there hasn’t been anything displayed on it for a year now. Can you please sell it to us?

Amber:
Yeah, we’ve definitely had that happen a couple times. And I also think that what’s even worse than a “not for sale” tag is a “not for sale” item without a “not for sale” tag. Because we’ve had that happen quite a few times too—where an item just won’t be priced, and it won’t be tagged. I take it up to the counter and I’m like, “This isn’t priced. Can you ask the vendor how much it is?” And then they'll get in touch with the vendor—which is always a process—and then they'll be like, “Oh, that's not for sale.” And I'm like, you got my hopes up. That happens too.

Shaun:
This next one I fear is becoming more and more of a regular occurrence, unfortunately. And that is antique stores that have more modern items than actual antiques. More so probably like vendor malls than actual antique stores—we experience this—but it is becoming more frequent in actual antique stores now too.

And it's a shame because, I mean, again, we get it. The way of the world right now, the crafty sort of style booths—they're in right now. It's a trendy thing. And like, I understand it from a vendor's perspective. You know, if you can get a booth in an antique store or a vendor mall, and they don't have any rules or regulations about what you can sell, you know—good for you. But it's just frustrating from a shopper’s perspective when you see “antique store” and you're like, “Oh yay, an antique store,” and then you go in and there's like five antiques and the rest is all modern items.

Amber:
We're not so much talking about handmade crafts and handmade items, because I do think that those can be a really great addition to what antique stores offer. But there are a lot of booths popping up that have almost like things that look like they were crafted—but they're mass-produced.

Shaun:
Can I also add something into this category?

Amber:
Mm-hmm.

Shaun:
The booths that sell all modern Mosser glass.

Shaun:
Yes. We have been running into booths that sell glass that is made by Mosser—modern day—or Rosso glass.

Amber:
And so it's something that we've started to look out for. And there is nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with carrying it in your booth. But I think that there is a line when it is presented almost as vintage or kind of expected in an antique environment—and it’s not. And I know that, to an extent, that is just part of antiquing. It’s your responsibility to know what's a reproduction and what's not. But I think that there's a difference between finding a reproduction at an estate sale and putting it in your booth, or wholesaling from a vendor that is currently selling these modern-day glass pieces.

And I think it's kind of—just disclose it. And we have been in stores where they have had signs that say, like, “Modern Mosser Glass,” and I always very much appreciate that. I think it helps just with the knowledge and the appreciation of both new and old glassware pieces. Because there are some amazing colors in the modern pieces that were not made in the vintage items. Like, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that glass—but I think it’s always nice to make that distinction when you're able to.

Shaun:
Well, because on the flip side of that, we've also been in stores—one in particular comes to mind—where they tried to pass it off as vintage. They were intentionally trying to deceive. So that's not something that we come across often, but there's one that comes to mind that absolutely

Amber:
100% lied right to my face.

Shaun:
Yeah, so again, I think that’s where the line is. You know—disclose it. That’s all. There’s no need to try to trick your customers into buying a modern piece that they think is vintage.

Amber:
Yeah, and we’ve learned that a lot of items—and a lot of customers—they just appreciate the style and the quality of the items that we source. And they don’t really care how old it is. I think a lot of people walking into antique stores feel that way—they’re just looking for things that catch their eye. But then there are true collectors that are looking for pieces that are authentic and that are old. And I think that anytime we can give customers accurate information, I think it benefits the industry as a whole.

It's especially hard when we're traveling and we go to a store that says it's an antique store—and like markets itself as an antique store—and then we get there and it's mostly modern items. Because again, we've probably gone out of our way to try to go to that store. We might have wasted a lot of time walking into there when it doesn't have the items that we're looking for. So I think that, again, transparency in the industry is just important.

Transparency in what the store is called—maybe adjusting the name from “antiques” to a “fleatique” or “boutique.” You know, there are a lot of different options that I think can be utilized to make sure that we're being transparent and accurate. And that's something that we try to do a lot of in our business. When we have an item and if I'm not sure of the age or I'm not sure how old it is, I will try to say that—like “I'm not sure if this is vintage,” or I make sure that I don’t put “vintage” on the website. Overall, I think that's something that should be important to everybody in this industry. And anybody that's in this industry should try to do more of.

Shaun:
And that's also something that we're trying to do a little bit of with the Gem Finding Directory. You know, when we put these stores into the directory, we're trying to leave some notes about what types of items you can find there, and if you can find mostly antiques or if it's a mix of antiques and modern items. So, you know, we're trying to do our part a little bit too of informing everybody.

Amber:
Yeah, and we're not trying to deter anybody because I think it is great that anybody is selling secondhand anything. Not just secondhand, but anybody who owns a business who wants to sell things—I think that that is amazing. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think it's just a matter of being transparent and trying to give customers accurate information to increase the odds that they're going to make a purchase and find something that they're interested in when they walk into your store.

Shaun:
Transparency is huge. You know, just be honest with your customers. That's the biggest thing. You're gonna get way more business if you're honest and up front.

Amber:
Yeah, and everybody, you know, slips up here and there. We've definitely had a couple instances where we were wrong.

Shaun:
Yeah.

Amber:
But just try. That's all we're asking. Just try.

We probably should have included this one when we were talking about checkout, but another pet peeve at checkout for me is when items are carelessly wrapped, which happens a lot. I really wish that I could go into every antique store and just wrap our purchases ourselves, but normally when I try, they're like, “Oh no, it's fine.” But there are so many times where we have gotten something from an antique store, and we have very thoroughly checked it over—we miss flaws sometimes, don't get me wrong—but we have, especially lately, been extremely diligent about checking the condition of the items before we buy it.

And there have been a lot of times where we've gotten home and we were like, “That was not there before.” And it usually is a result of the lid being wrapped with the bottom with there being absolutely no cushion or layer in between. But it's happened with other things too, where they have just been too close to each other in the box, or there's nothing in between them. Or it was a glass item right next to a brass item—the way that they packed it. So that's really hard, especially when you're paying for something. And for us, because we're reselling, we're trying to find items that are in the best condition possible. And we certainly do buy some things that have some small flaws, but we really try to stay away from any big damage. And it has happened in transit as a result of the way that things were wrapped sometimes.

Shaun:
It's also happened before it got to transit.

Amber:
Yes.

Shaun:
Sometimes it happens as they're wrapping them. 

Amber:
And again—just be transparent. Or sometimes people will drop something at checkout and not even look it over, and I'm like, “You just dropped that item that I just bought—could you—can we make sure that it's in the same condition?”

Shaun:
That happens a lot.

Amber:
Yeah,

Shaun:
Very rarely do they check it.

Amber:
No.

Amber:
I also sometimes need to do a better job of advocating for us and our business. Because Shaun is—at this point, Shaun is normally looking around the store to see if we missed anything. So a lot of times I'm checking out by myself, and I need to do a better job of being like, “Can we look that over? I just bought that and I don't want to take it home with me if it was just damaged.”

Amber:
This next one, I will be totally honest, drives me nuts. And that is—loosely—when booths don't refresh their inventory. But on a larger scale, I feel like so many vendors just use their booths as a storage unit. We will go to an antique store—I don't know—a year, maybe two years after we’d been there, and the exact same items will be in some of these booths. And their prices sometimes are ridiculous, to the point that I don't think they actually want anybody to buy them. They're just storing them there. It's their collection. They didn't have anywhere else to put it. Maybe their spouse said, "You're not allowed to keep it in the house", so they put it in a booth. And I think they can write it off for tax purposes.

Amber:
And I don't think that there is anything wrong with pricing items high. This is absolutely not about pricing, because I really do believe that everybody should charge what they need to for their items. That's something that I do in our shop, and I know how it feels when somebody tells me my prices are too high and I'm like, “But you don't understand how much I paid for it.”

So I think that there is a difference between pricing an item high because you need to make back its value and because you need to cover your expenses, and there's a difference between that and pricing an item so high that nobody will buy it because you secretly want to keep it. I think that there is a very clear distinction between what is happening when you walk into a booth.

Shaun:
Going back to like the smaller point of it, it is frustrating just going into stores and seeing so many of the booths not have any new inventory. Like, that is—that's why we keep coming back to stores, because we wanna see the cool new stuff that they got. And a lot of the time we go there and there's no cool new stuff.

Amber:
And we're not talking about going a week later—these are stores in different states that we haven't been to in months or years, and we go back, and there are so many booths that are exactly the same, that have the same items, where nothing is even moved around. And it makes us not want to come back.

I can't even tell you how many times we go to a store, and the first time we go we find so much and we're so excited to come back, and then we come back and it's the same stuff. And it's not just bad luck and not finding anything because the things are in the same spot. Like, it almost feels like déjà vu walking through the store, and we're like, “Wait, we have done this before.”

Shaun:
And I mean I get it. You know, some of the people that own these booths, like they might be older, you know, they might not keep up with them anymore. You know, they might not even pay attention to them at all. You know, they might have just put whatever they had in there and just let it go and, you know,

Amber:
Whatever happens happens.

Shaun:
Yeah. So, you know, on one hand I do—I do get it. It's just again, it's another thing that can be frustrating from a buyer's point of view.

Amber:
Yeah, and I think that it prevents people from coming back.

Shaun:
Yeah. I think that maybe antique store owners or vendor mall owners could maybe be a little more strict in a way of, you know, enforcing some kind of policy where the vendors need to at least refresh their inventory, rearrange their inventory—like, there should be something in place because that would benefit the store overall.

Like you said, we go in there and we see the same stuff, we don't want to come back. So if they had some sort of policy in place where things had to at least be moved around once a month or something, you know, I think that that would help them overall too.

Amber:
We go to so many antique stores, we do this all the time, and I'm always observing from a business perspective. Like, that's just my—my business brain is always on. And the stores that are not necessarily crowded, but the stores that have a healthy flow of traffic, are always the ones that keep their inventory fresh.

If I took everything that I have, you know, observed through all of the times and all of the hundreds of antique stores that we have been to—if I had to say what I think would give any antique mall the most chance at being successful, I think it is regularly refreshing inventory and making sure that the vendors do that. Because those are always the ones where they seem like they're getting a lot of sales, where it seems like a lot of things are gone, where there's always a line at checkout, where there's always a pretty full parking lot.

You know, I can think of a couple off the top of my head where there's always people in there, there's always people checking out, and those are always the ones where the vendors do a good job at keeping their booths refreshed. And it doesn't have to be fresh inventory—sometimes things are just moved around. And I've seen the same piece twice, and it's styled a different way, and next to a different item, and I'm like, “Oh, I know that was here last time, but now I'm intrigued.”

Amber:
Another note on tags is that sometimes you can tell that they've been there for so long because they're faded and they're no longer readable. So at that point, it's probably time to move the item around a little bit, maybe offer a little bit of a discount, or just get a fresh tag. Or sometimes increase the price. Like I hear that all the time, where people raise the prices and they have a sale. Because it like makes it seem...

Shaun:
More prestigious.

Amber:
More yeah—like increases the perceived value. But it is hard because again, it's almost like an item that wasn't priced. Because then we have to go up to the counter and we're like, “What does this say?” and they're like, “I don't know, what does this say? What do you think it says?” And then they have to call the vendor.

Shaun:
And again, sometimes it's something that just has to get left behind because we never get a real answer. Well, we will stay with the theme of tags because the next item is when we come across mislabeled or misidentified tags on items.

And this happens a lot.

Amber:
A lot. A lot. And it's really important that you understand—if you go to an antique store, don't trust the tags. Do not trust them.

Shaun:
It's the same as if you see a listing on eBay or if you use Google Lens—anybody can put anything they want. We have had people tell us to our face that an item was something, and it literally had the stamp of a different company on the item. Sometimes people truly believe that they know something. And like we've talked about in the past, a lot of the glass molds have been passed around throughout so many different companies throughout the years. And you know, they may be familiar with it from one company, and they just assume that, you know, whatever color they have it in was from the same company—when it was actually from a completely different one.

So a lot of the time, people just assume they know something, and they don't actually take the time to research. And they'll just write it on the tag. And then again, this is how all of this misinformation starts. You know, it just snowballs. It gets started somewhere, and then somebody's like, “Oh, the tag said this, so it must be this.” And then I'll put it on the internet. And then somebody on the internet will copy that listing to their eBay listing, and then it just snowballs into this giant avalanche of misinformation.

Amber:
Which is really hard for buyers and sellers—and also preserving the history. And I think that like you said, a lot of it is unintentional. But then I also think a lot of it is like neglectful. They don't wanna take the time to do the research. And that's why it is so important for you as a consumer or as a reseller to make sure that you're researching the items no matter what the tag said. And just do your best to try not to spread misinformation. Again, everybody makes mistakes and there's going to be slip-ups, but I think as a whole, we just really need to try to be as transparent and accurate and try to make sure that we're relaying and passing on accurate knowledge and accurate information.

Amber:
This is a hard one because I don't want to sound mean but... sometimes people at antique stores talk a little too much. I love having conversations and I love connecting with people at antique stores. I think that sometimes the people there have the best stories about themselves or the items, and they are packed with knowledge and packed with information and packed with very interesting things to say, and I love hearing all of that. But there comes a point where I think that sometimes people are talking to shoppers so much that shopping can't happen.

Shaun:
For sure.

Amber:
And I think it's really important—I wish that there was like a kind way in person to be like, “Okay, I'm gonna shop now,” because it is hard, especially when we're on a limited schedule or if we have our niece. I know I don't wanna keep her at an antique store for too long. Like, I know that her, you know, her tolerance is—she loves it and she really does enjoy going with us a lot of the time, but there becomes a point where she's not interested in being in the antique store anymore, and I gotta make my way through there and get out of there. And so sometimes for a variety of reasons, the time is limited. And I again—I love having those conversations, but at some point you have to let me look at your items so that I can decide if I want to buy anything from you.

Shaun:
Yeah, it just gets to a point sometimes where they just—they won't end the conversation.

Amber:
No matter how hard I try to politely keep walking.

Shaun:
Yeah. It's fine to be polite and, you know, have a brief conversation, but like, we are in there trying to give money to your business. Like, we also do need to look around. So, I don't know—I see it from both sides, because I know that, you know, I'm sure working in an antique store can be very lonely.

Amber: 
Yeah.

Shaun:
And very boring at times. A lot of them don't get a lot of foot traffic. So you know, I can imagine, you know, if I was working there and you see someone come in, you get excited—you know, like, I haven't talked to anybody all day. So I get it. But I don't know. We also—we need to be able to shop.

Amber:
And on that note, I also think it is so important for people to be a little bit more mindful about boundaries with—and cues from—children. I often see people trying to talk to my niece and her kind of giving signs that she's not interested in talking, and I have to stand up a lot and say that like, “Oh, you know, it's okay if she doesn't want to talk right now.” And we have a lot of kind of moments like that where people aren't respecting her cues.

We're teaching her to be polite but also to not talk to strangers. And sometimes people just don't wanna respect those boundaries, which can be really hard when you're shopping with children. I think that applies to all stores—not just antique stores—but I really wish that people were more mindful and more aware of that. And it's not just the older generation. It is like people of a variety of ages that I have kind of witnessed it with. So—and again, I think it's about reading the room and being mindful of other people's cues, and also kind of respecting the boundaries that the parent or the, um, the grown-up that they're with is trying to set.

And also on the boundary note, a lot of times people will just completely disregard what I am saying. So if we're in a booth and I'm like, “Oh, you can look but don't touch that,” the person will be like, “Oh, she's fine.” And I'm like, well, you might think it's fine, but we're gonna go into another antique store and it might not be fine. And there will be pushback from people and I’m like, no, we’re not touching things.

I think those moments can be hard when you're trying to antique with kids, but at the same time, it has been so much fun to antique with her and to see her develop an appreciation for things of the past. And right now, she's very into anything that's iridescent, and she finds any excuse to use that word. So it’s been so much fun to do with her, and I would never want to go without her just because of that. But I do wish that people were a little more mindful when kids walk into a store sometimes.

Shaun:
I do think a lot of it is a generational gap. I think it is more common with older generations that we encounter that. I do agree that it happens with all generations, and I also just think this idea of boundaries is still like a new concept within most of the world. So I think it’s going to take some time for people to get used to people voicing their boundaries. And I also think there’s this kind of antiquated idea that-

Amber:
You have to talk to people to be polite.

Shaun:
Yes. Yeah, me as an introvert, I’m sure I come off as a grumpy—grumpy man—a lot. And the truth is that I’m not. I’m just very shy and I’m backward and I’m introverted, and I have a very hard time starting conversations with people. And that doesn’t mean that I’m trying to be rude or disrespectful. I think all of this is still newer, even though like we’ve kind of grown up with these ideas for most of our lives, it’s still something that is kind of being integrated into the rest of the world. And it really shows when we’re in situations like that, how people just aren’t used to—even when, like you said, we’ll say something like, “We’re trying to teach her this,” like people are caught off guard. They don’t really know how to handle that.

Amber:
Yeah. I have gotten to the point where I am always going to stick up for her cues, and I’ve definitely gotten people who have been taken aback by the boundaries that I have politely set.

And I also think another thing to bring into this conversation is a few episodes ago when we talked about why people antique and thrift and how so much of it is to escape from the world and kind of have these moments where the world fades away and where your stress isn’t the top thing on your mind.

And as somebody who—I can be introverted or extroverted depending on the day and how I’m feeling—a lot of times I just want to go in an antique store and I want to be calm and I want to be quiet and I don’t want to talk. And I do think there’s this misconception that if you’re not talking to somebody, you’re being rude or mean. I’m just trying to be in the zone, like I’m just trying to enjoy this moment. The rest of my life is so chaotic—I just want to be here in the moment and not have that extra stress of trying to hold a conversation.

Shaun:
Even the idea of voicing your boundaries comes off as rude to a lot of people.

Amber:
Yeah.

Shaun:
So again, it’s just—it’s something that is going to take a while for people to get used to. And I don’t know if some generations are ever really gonna adopt that mentality.

Amber:
But if you’re in those situations, especially if you’re antiquing or thrifting with children, stand up for them and stand up for the boundaries that make your life easier. If people are constantly telling your kids that it’s okay to touch that, that’s going to make your life harder when you go into other antique stores and you’re trying to tell them not to touch things. Because in their head they’re like, “Well, at the last store I could touch whatever item.”

Shaun:
We’re just gonna roll this right into another boundary, and that is again with kids—with boundaries. So many people will just walk up to our niece and hand her things. And that’s crazy to me. I totally understand that they’re just trying to be nice and trying to be kind to her and give her something, but to just give her something without even asking us—or most of the time, they don’t know that we’re not her parents—but any kind of guardian that is there with a kid, to not ask permission to give them something is pretty crazy to me.

Amber:
Yeah. And I mean, this has happened with food. Like, you have no idea what kind of allergy—like, she doesn’t have any allergies that we’re aware of, thank goodness, but there have been plenty of times where people have just walked up and been like, "Do you want a cookie?" Like, you have no idea what kind of allergy that child might have. She definitely got some—like, people had given her toys that weren’t necessarily appropriate for her age, like when she was younger.

Shaun:
Yeah.

Amber:
That wouldn’t really be safe. Or like, you know, old toys that were broken. One time somebody gave her a dinosaur and it had like an arm broken off, and it was sharp. And I just threw it away a couple feet after when I was out of that situation. But like—it is crazy. It is crazy what people will just hand to her.

Shaun:
So many stuffed animals that, you know, sometimes are very dirty and don’t smell very pleasant.

Amber:
Yeah, yeah.

Shaun:
So I always appreciate it when somebody is like, “Oh, could she—can she have this?” You know, when they kind of lean over and they’re like, “Is she allowed to have…” whatever. And I always—I really value that, and I think that’s the approach more people should take.

Amber:
Our last one that we have on our list—but make sure in the comments you let us know what’s on your list—the last one is when we see thrift store stickers that are still on the item. And like, part of me doesn’t care because as a reseller, I know that, you know, we all have to charge more than what we paid for them. But sometimes there have literally been times where there’s a sticker on the item for like $3.99 and they’re charging like $125. And I’m like, oh man—if I would’ve gone to the thrift store last week, maybe I could’ve got this for $3.99. So, you know, it’s just a little bit of a sting.

Shaun:
It’s mostly jealousy more than anything.

Amber:
Yeah, yeah. But just make sure you take the thrift store tags off your items, please. Or like estate sale tags. A lot of times there will be like a $2 sticker on the bottom and then the item is priced much higher.

Shaun:
I also think, though, for a casual customer, that could deter them from purchasing.

Amber:
Yes.

Shaun:
We get it because we’re in the business, but I think that somebody who’s just collecting and trying to buy these things for their home—if they see that, that could really turn them off.

Amber:
Yeah, because I agree.

Shaun:
I don’t think a lot of casual customers understand exactly how this business works. I mean, just from comments we’ve gotten, I think people think that we’re supposed to buy an item and charge what we bought it for, and just charge them for shipping. So, you know, I think a lot of the casual customer base doesn’t quite understand that you do have to mark up these items from whatever you paid for them. But to see that—I think sometimes it insults them and can turn them off from purchasing.

Amber:
I agree. There is a difference between a customer perspective and a reseller perspective. I think that kind of applies to a lot of these things too. And as customers and resellers, we’re just hoping that maybe the right people will see this, and maybe it will help them make their booths or their antique stores a little more successful. Because unfortunately, antique stores are closing right and left. There have been so many stores that I have loved and tried to go back to, and they’re not there. Or I’m looking them up—I was just finishing our mileage log for last year, and there were some stores where I needed to pull up the address. And when I went to look up the address, I saw they were permanently closed.

And I think this industry, in many ways, really needs an update in order to be able to stay afloat. I’m hoping that some of what we’re putting out there can help anybody—whether you’re reselling in person or online—so that this can continue to be a thing and bring a lot of people joy, and preserve a lot of history in the process. 

We also talked about doing another episode soon on things our favorite antique stores do really well that keep us coming back. That I think keeps other customers coming back too. And the ones we talked about before—where there’s a lot of foot traffic and a lot of sales happening—they aren’t always in the best area. I think people will drive and go out of their way to go to a good antique store. So I think that’s going to be a really fun episode too, because it’ll be kind of like the reverse of this.

Shaun:
We also don’t want you to think that every time we go into an antique store, we’re just angry and grumpy and nitpicking every little thing we don’t like. Because there are lots of things that we do enjoy.

Amber:
Yes, yes. We love so many things about antiquing. And there are so many fantastic antique stores, so many wonderful booths, and we do have more positive experiences than we do negative. So if you are one of those people—whether you are an owner, a booth owner, or an employee—if you are one of those people who are helping to keep antique stores amazing places: we see you, and we value you, and we appreciate you.

That’s a wrap for this episode. Let’s go find some vintage.