The Start

Well, I am now accomplishing one of my New Year's resolutions with the start of this blog. I am an antique geek and love to travel through my local towns to check out the shops to see what they offer. While I look for things to put on ebay, I am also on the hunt for antique board games for my own collection, as well as books about Wall Street from the 19th century. What I have found during my escapes is that shops/malls have gone out of business or they were just plain craft stores. I am tired of driving an hour or two to visit a shop that looks like someone emptied their garage out. When it says antiques - I want antiques! So, I thought it would be nice to have a blog to put down my observations about local shops/malls for others to read, use and comment too. I am starting in Wisconsin, but have some contacts in other states that I might get to contribute to the blog.

Minoqua, WI - I was up visiting friends for New Years and visited 4 antique shops in Minoqua.

The Winner
The one that I liked the best was and shop across from the Paul Bunyan restaurant. A small shop but good quality items. Prices a little bit on the high side, but had some nice furniture and glass cases full of small items and paper. I purchased a few trade cards and a book for ebay.

The other three shops were similar in that they had lots of junk - i.e. crafts and items post-1970. The Mill, on Hwy 47 had loads of books, but priced too high. Nothing gets my goat then when a dealer has a book priced high and the book is smashed in a bookcase getting warped - they obviously don't value the book at all. One thing about The Mill is that part of it has no heat - it is very very cold in the winter!

Later this week - I am traveling to Princeton, WI which has several shops and will give you my thoughts later this week. Until then . . .