I know many of you have been waiting for my re-cap post of the July 11-13 Portland Antique Show in Oregon and it is finally here. My mom had heart surgery while I was in town and then she had a complication so there were quite a few days spent in the hospital. I am happy to report she is now home, recovering, and on the road to good health – YAY!!
Ok, so, my twin sister and I got up bright and early on Saturday, July 12th and headed to the Expo Center. Last year we waiting nearly an hour just to get into the parking lot park the car, this year we waiting only 15mins. We parked and got in line, a long line to get our tickets and get inside when we learned that we needed to get into a different line for purchasing tickets. Luckily there was two of us, so my sister held our spot in the original line and I ran around to find the ticket line…. worked out great, we met towards the entrance. Finally, inside we were! There were 1,600 booths… the show was primarily in-doors but there were several booths outside and you had to walk past the outdoor booths to get inside the Expo Center. Lots of people attending the show. It was very hot outside and we couldn’t wait to get inside.
Once inside, I noticed right away all the signs saying ‘No Photo Taking’ bummer! I snapped very few pics but did post videos I snuck and uploaded to my Vine account – watch videos here. I headed for the booth directly in front of me. I couldn’t resist the vintage Christmas goodies!! In case you don’t know, I am obsessed with vintage Christmas items!! I found a pair of Holt Howard Santa Claus candle huggers and some vintage Christmas hankies….I was able to haggle with the dealer and so thrilled that I made my first purchase within minutes of setting foot inside. My sister and I re-grouped, we decided our strategy would be to start at the far end and work our way down the isles.
There was the booth that had aliens, the booth that had so many mannequins, booths that were filled with all kinds of this-n-that, booths that had beautiful displays of vintage and antique toys, tin toys, glass, kitchenware, furniture, clothing, seasonal, chocolate tins and molds, jewelry, etc… there really was something for everyone. Many dealers had amazing setups, their booths were beautiful, and they had their glass showcases too. Lots of care and detail went into setting up their booths and it really showed. I have lots of vide footage here that you can see via my twitter stream @CollectorsTips
I thought the dealers were amazing!! They were knowledgeable and were so easy and open to negotiating with. Many times when we entered booths the dealer came right over to say they will gladly give us a discount and to let them know what we are interested in. All of my purchases were haggled and I got them at a really good price. I should also say that I thought prices were very very good, nothing outrageous what so ever. This was day 2 of the show so I was really surprised that dealers were so open to haggling and were incredibly nice too.
After 4 hours or so, we made our way through approx..1,600 booths!! Good thing my sister insisted we take her baby stroller as it came in incredibly handy to store our purchases and our water bottles too!! We were exhausted. After we made our way to the car and unpacked, I started thinking about how the heck was I going to ship all these goodies back home!!!
Here are some pics of my antique show purchases. The boxes you see are other items I have yet to unpack that I also purchased while antiquing my way through Portland. This trip was quite literally the BEST trip I have ever had for antiquing in Portland, Oregon. Each store, mall, thrift shop had really good items and I had so much fun with my family and visiting all my favorite spots!!
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