What A Good Junk Should Be: Not A Wannabee Antique Store

Hunting For Junk In All The Right Places

 When I go out junking, I  am always hoping that the junk shop that I visit is truly a Junk shop and not a wannabee Antique shop. For me, the best Junk stores mix together all their stuff in random combinations of goodies! When STUFF is too organized and too nicely displayed, the buyer begins to wonder if they are in a JUNK shop or a Vintage shop. There is a difference of course. 

Hunting For A Bargain

Those of us who live to go out junking for fabulous finds want to poke around in piles looking for our treasures.  Psychologically we feel that if we hunt for collectibles buried in dusty stacks of odds and ends then we deserve to get a bargain. If the owner of the shop has taken the time to clean and feature their items for sale in charming displays, you can generally assume that someone is going to have to pay for the "merchandising". 

Poking Through Piles of Junk 

Junk  shoppers are not interested in sweet vignettes. We want junk in the raw. A box of doll heads; a pile of cigar boxes; a drawer filled with old magazines. It doesn't bother us one bit, to walk into a back room loaded with everything jumbled together or unpacked boxes fresh off the truck.  Most of us  would be in junk heaven to be allowed to help a junk dealer sort through a new load. Oh...how I  can't wait to go picking in the morning!

Images courtesy of  Junk Shop Of Canton, Canton, CT

C. Dianne Zweig is the author of Hot Kitchen & Home Collectibles of the 30s, 40s, 50s and Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes. She is also the Editor of I Antique Online an actively growing internet based resource community for people who buy, sell or collect antiques, collectibles and art. You can find Dianne’s fabulous retro and vintage kitchen, home and cottage collectibles at The Collinsville Antiques Company of New Hartford, CT, a 22,000 feet antique emporium with an in-house retro café. To read more articles by C. Dianne Zweig click on this link: C. Dianne Zweig’s Blog Kitsch ‘n Stuff Email me at dianne@cdiannezweig.com Visit my website, CDianneZweig.com Dianne is a member of: The American Society of Journalists and Authors The Society of Professional Journalists