Antiques or Antiquated Crap?
What’s The Deal?
Creepy dolls, mint condition plate sets, old medication in glass jars, comically large rusted tins of black pepper, and thousands of more items greet me as I enter my first antiques store.
Yesterday, I finally decided to stop at one of the dozens of antique stores I have seen across small towns in America.
I have wondered:
- Why are there so many stores?
- How do they organize it?
- How much is the stuff in there?
- Who buys it anyway?
My Answers
I actually have more questions as a result of trying to get my answers to the above question.
The reality of this antique store was that I couldn’t even get a decent estimate of how many items they had, and it didn’t seem like there was a niche at all.
There was some level of organization. Beer bottle collections, comic books, dolls, etc. I saw four different areas with these types of items.
So, it is an organizational issue or a clutter issue?
I asked myself, at what point do they say we have enough, thank you.
Maybe they get a lot of donations and think it is rude to turn it down.
But at some point, they will be at capacity, right?
Maybe they will purchase additional storage. Or maybe they will have a big sale.
Or, maybe they will die and leave this all to their family to deal with.
Maybe This Isn’t About The Antique Store at All
The many questions I have focused on the subject of the antique stores relate to bigger themes.
Who wants all of this stuff?
Am I creating investments for my loved ones or burdens?
I have witnessed the small music store I worked at for over a decade close and be cleaned out in a few days because the owner passed away.
Honestly, no one in the family wanted anything to do with that place.
I took a neon light as a reminder, but I didn’t want to take on the responsibility of owning that store or storing old merchandise.
Truly, when I die, I won’t care what they do with any of this stuff anyway. I have unloaded much excess, and I am keeping what I enjoy. I won’t feel resentful if others don’t get the same enjoyment out of those physical items I did.
When they think of me, I hope it brings a light smile to their face. That is more than enough.
