Tag Archives: antique society sebastopol

Not All Antique Sales are Created Equal

Posted on by

For the last couple weeks I have been super excited about the local multi-dealer antique mall here in Sebastopol, CA ‘Antique Society’ for their 24th anniversary sale where everything is 20% off. The sale started yesterday and goes through Sunday. We stopped by yesterday at practically the end of the day with only 45 mins till they closed. We walked inside, the display was awesome and welcomed you to ‘California in the Spring’ with lots of vintage metal and wicker patio furniture, plants and antique plant stands, lovely metal and intricate birdcages. The mall was ultra clean and the dealers really cleaned up their booths.

Once you got going and started walking through the booths it quickly became apparent that the dealers didn’t feel the need to fill their booths with new merchandise. A lot of booths have so much space and not much in them. I mean, this was the mall’s 24th anniversary sale and they had been advertising it for a while so people from all over San Francisco, Silicon Valley and wine country were going to drive up to shop. But, maybe that was the point……the sale would bring in ‘new shoppers’ that wouldn’t normally stop in so they wouldn’t know that the merchandise they were looking at had been sitting there for the past 2 years and that really nothing new had been added to the booths. But, us regulars know.

I am still so disappointed, I just so badly wanted to see some ‘new’ vintage and antique collectibles, not the same stuff I have been seeing for the past 2 years and go home with some new treasures after waiting and anticipating this sale for weeks.

Share

Let’s Make a Deal

Posted on by

 

I was at the Antique Society antique mall yesterday afternoon down here in Sebastopol, CA, and this is a multi-dealer mall that I have been coming to since moving to Sonoma County about a year ago. It is not uncommon for shoppers to have dealer’s contacted with questions or to negotiate on pricing. Well today, there were a couple of items in a booth that I have had my eye for the last year and had some questions about the items as well as I wanted to make the dealer an offer on several of the items that I have seen for the last year. I talked to the dealer manning the floor, she took up front to talk to the manager and all I got was “NO”. They refused to contact the dealer. They told me the dealer was 80 years old and didn’t want to be bothered. I came back with the fact that I was interested in multiples of her items and had questions and wanted to make an offer on these items that have been in her booth for over a year now but they refused, refused to call the dealer. Mean while, a group of young ladies standing in the line next to me just got a terrific deal on some furniture as they were able to talk directly to the dealer of another booth. I was really bummed. I mean, if a dealer has items for over a year in their space, wouldn’t they be interested in hearing from a buyer that was interested in many of their items? How can the mall stand in the way of that?
Are you a dealer? Do you have a booth in a antique mall? I would love to hear your thoughts on this? If you have items for over a year in your space, would you want a call from a interested buyer??
Share