End of an Era

We learned on Saturday morning that after much soul-searching the owner of Southwest Antiques and Collectibles will be closing the store at the end of March. Since the original owner passed away about a year ago, the shop has been steadily losing dealers and customers. Is this a sign of the times and bad economy or the inexperience of a new owner? Probably both is true.

Southwest Antiques and Collectibles has been a Houston antiques shopping destination for as long as I can remember. It has been in it current location for about 20 years. We personally have had a shop there since 2007. We have decided to go ahead and close our booth at the end of January. We will be concentrating more on our shop at Antiques on 8 and reinvigorating our on-line sales which have really taken a back seat in the past year.

If you are one of the long time customers of Southwest, be sure and stop by and say goodbye to the great staff and dealers. Hopefully they will all find new jobs and shops to sell their wares. Certainly there will be lots of close-out sales.

Rain and More Rain

Well show number 1 is over. The weather was terrible but we had a good crowd on Saturday. In fact several customers who returned on Sunday commented on how crowded the show had been. Saw several old friends and good customers. The picture is of the "Colorado Girls" Mary and Cynthia (MC Presents) who come down from Colorado. Don't you love the buffalo! The other picture is a great piece of folk art from Nantucket.

The load out was a real mess with the mud. Several dealers had dropped their trailers in the pasture on Friday after load-in. On Sunday, Susan (the promoter) announced for the dealers to come to the front desk to sign up to have the tracker pull their trailers out of the mud. It was a fun night.

Unfortunately furniture sales were slow but did make several good sales of smaller items. If you didn't make it out try to come in the summer. For those of you who are turned off by the bigger shows in the spring and fall, this is a really great alternative!

Big Red Barn Winter Show - 1st Show of 2011

Okay the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work. The fist show of 2011 is this weekend in Round Top, Texas at the Big Red Barn. We'll see if the economy is really coming back and people are ready to let go of their hard-earned money and buy a great vintage piece or pretty piece of linen to brighten their day.

It used to be that the only shows at Round Top were the REALLY BIG SHOWS in the Spring and Fall which draws thousands of people from all over and lasts a couple of weeks. Now Susan Franks, the promoter and owner of the Original Round Top Antique Fair (not to be confused with imitators and tailgaters), decided to get more use out of her facility and hold a Winter and Summer Antique Show. This has become a really good show and I highly recommend. Many of the Barn Dealers (those high price guys who inhabit the Red Barn in the Spring and Fall) and the Marburger Dealers (those tailgaters that has become a really big deal!) and us lowly Tent Dealers (those deemed not quite up to snuff to be in the Barn) are all joined together in one venue.

We've been getting ready since the New Year began. We attended one auction and spent way too much money but it was really hard to resist since it was the estate of a long-time antique dealer so there was alot of good merchandise. I think we got some interesting items that we are bringing to the show - a folkart weathervane, an Icart print, two Aladdin boudoir lamps, a couple of great sewing drawer sets, a WWI bayonet, some old railroad oilers, a great pair of theater seats and an fabulous Coca Cola sign.

Come by and say hi. We'll be there Saturday and Sunday. I promise you'll have fun!