Five Extraordinary Men.  

This year on 9 November, at 10:00 am in Downtown Springfield, MO, we honor all Veterans with the Southwest Missouri Veterans Day Parade along with five special men.  They did not ask to be in the parade, and in fact they all declined when first asked.    At first glance when you see them at a grocery store, mall, or just walking down the street your impression is another 'ordinary guy'.   They lead quiet lives, raising families, and privately dealing with events which led us to calling them the "The Greatest Generation"  These men are anything but ordinary!    These five men will tell you they did nothing special, but for me and most of you, they exemplify what America is!   

Grand Marshall - George Copeland, SSgt, US Army Air Corp, POW.  George Copeland was raised on a farm in Kansas.  With the outbreak of WWII he joined the US Army Air Corp with hopes of becoming a pilot.  While he did not fulfill his immediate goal of becoming a pilot he was successful in becoming an Armorer for B-24 Bombers.  He was a member of a 10 man crew in the 448th Bomber Group, 8th Air Force in England.   On his 5th mission when his plane was shot down over Germany, George was able to parachute to safety only to be captured and become a POW.   He was imprisoned at Stalag Luft IV near the Baltic Sea along with 8,000 other POWS.  Once it became clear that the approaching Russian army would soon arrive the Germans marched those at Stalag Luft IV and numerous other locations west in what became known as "The Black March"!  On 2 May, 1945 they ran into the Allied Lines and were liberated.   He never gave up his desire to become a pilot and eventually obtained his private pilots license.

Deputy Grand Marshall - Jim Vanderhoof, Sgt, US Army,  Fought as part of Patton's Army in Italy and North Africa facing Germany's best General, Rommel.  Earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star for Heroism, and the Purple Heart!  Jim and his cousin Darwin joined the Army along with a lot of other young men from the small town he lived in.  Jim and Darwin were the only ones to survive the war and remained best friends.  To this day he still remembers General Patton on hill in Italy addressing the troops, telling them they were out manned and out gunned but General Patton was confident his men could whip them!

Deputy Grand Marshall - Bob Steffke, Corporal, US Army, Battle of Okinawa, One of the costliest battles of the war! The battle for Okinawa resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater and lasted 82 days!  Bob earned his Combat Infantry Badge and then trained as part of the force preparing to invade Japan.  When the war ended he spent a year in Japan as part of the Occupation Forces.  Before the war Bob had every intention of becoming a pilot in the navy.   While waiting for Navy Flight Training School to start he had an industrial accident in a foundry, resulting in major damage to his leg and indeed he almost lost it.  After his leg healed he was drafted into the army.  A week later he received his letter for admittance to the Navy V-5 Program but the Army would not release him.    

Deputy Grand Marshall - Lloyd Hoover, Chief Draftsman, CPO, US Navy,  30 Years, Retired,  WWII, Korea, Vietnam - There are some of us that really enjoy military life and protecting our country.  Lloyd Hoover is one of the living few that has seen action in three of the most intense military campaigns of the last century.  Lloyd saw action all over the Pacific during WWII and distinctly remembers the Battle of Saipan.  He spent most of his time in the Navy deployed on Ships.  He is a recipient of the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal in WWII, The Korean Service Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal.

Deputy Grand Marshall - Dale Irvine, PFC, US Army,  One of five brothers who served during WWII,  Member of the 3rd Infantry Division, Field Artillery,  Battle of the Bulge, which became the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in WWII.  89,000 men were casualties with over 19,000 killed.  In letters home, Dale did not mention the horror he and his fellow soldiers endured, rather he tried to send them encouraging letters of his plans and thoughts so they would not worry.  He received 6  Medals from the US Military and recently received the Legion of Merit, he is now a Docent of the Air & Military Museum of the Ozarks.

A special guest in the Parade who is here to Honor these great men is Major General Leslie C. Smith, Current Commanding General, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. General Smith's decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal (with oak leaf cluster), Legion of Merit (with oak leaf cluster) and Senior Parachutist Badge along with numerous other medals and badges. General Smith holds a Master of Science degree in administration from Central Michigan University and a Master of Science degree in national security strategy from the National Defense University.

Everyone who has ever served in the military either saw or made the mistake of Saluting their Drill Sargent after a frustrating day of training.   Nothing makes the point more about saluting then that drill instructor in your face yelling and screaming that he works for living and you do not salute enlisted men or women!  Well Sargent Kontas, I am going to disobey you this Saturday.  When these five enlisted men pass me in the Parade, I will proudly stand and salute them.  They Earned it! 

Mike Cook

Chairman, Southwest Missouri Veterans Day Parade

The Vacant Era! What Era of time do you collect?

It seems everyday I will get a call from someone asking what something they have is worth. In general it is hard to suggest any value over the phone or via email with pictures. Many times the caller will use terms like Antique, Vintage or Victorian and they have no idea what those terms mean. In fact I am often confused myself and that is easy to do. A recent call by a young man wanting to bring his "Antique" furniture by the store to sell it has generated this blog. When he arrived he had a truck full of put together furniture, an entertainment center, microwave cart, and a stereo system. At first I was kind of in shock as I looked around for the camera. Surly this was a set up by some friends to give me a hard time! Alas it was not. The young man in question did indeed have some of his grandmothers stuff she had given him. All was made in the 1980's or later but to him it was old and antique. It is all a matter of perspective. I have only been in this industry for a couple of years and everyday I make mistakes finding the right words to call something. I thought I would take a minute to relay some of the more common phrases and what periods of time they refer to.

 Antique - Generally anything over 100 years old. But this varies depending on what you are referring to. Guns for example must be produced before 1898 to be classified as antique. For cars it is generally accepted they are antique if they are over 45 years old. This will vary from state to state in regards to licensing. Furniture is probably the most common item referred to as antique.

 Vintage - In general anything from the 1970's or early 1980's. Again the term becomes confusing depending on what you are talking about. Clothing for example is considered vintage when it is anywhere from 20-80 years old. Wine is called vintage when 85-90% of the grapes used were picked in the same year, and that varies from country to country.

 Retro - Many people consider things to be Retro if they are from the 1950's-1970's. As you can already see different terms will cover the same period of time.

 Mid-Century Modern - Mostly a term used to refer to furniture from the 1930's-the 1960's.

 Brass Era - This was a term that applied to early automobiles that used a lot of brass in their construction. Generally the time frame of 1902-1916.

 Victorian Age - The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901.

Mod Period - In general the time of the 70's, 80's, and early 90's.

Primitives - These can be from any era and are generally considered hand made, rusty, junky looking things like wooden boxes, saws, and other tools from the farm.

 And the list goes on and on. Steam Punk, Industrial Age, Depression Era, Turn of the Century, Art Nouveau, Art Deco ...............

Now its time for my favorite period - I have taken the liberty of naming this myself.  1990-2013 I refer to as the Vacant Era!.  Most younger people go around with a vacant look in their eyes only seeing I pods, Video Games, Computers and Social Networks.  They all use new technology that is obsolete the day they buy it and if they buy furniture or things for the house it is compressed cardboard, sawdust and made in China.  The Vacants will inherit the world and have no appreciation of the time, art and creative minds that actually conceived and built most of what we have in this life.  Before long they will just use their 3D printer and make anything that has been created before.

July 4th Celebration!

Welcome back to my blog - after a long hiatus trying to figure out why it would not show up we have it working again! Join us this 4th of July Holiday Weekend! Free Popcorn from the 3rd thru the 7th! We are also proud to announce that Hearts On Fire BBQ Competitive Cooking Team will be in the parking lot on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July! Come try some of their award winning sauces and BBQ Also in the parking lot is R & R Fireworks - they have been at this same location for decades and offer the best in Fireworks! Check out our face book page and get your coupon for a free buffalo nickel with your purchase on the 3rd or 4th of July. Good while supply lasts and limit of one to each customer!

We also invite everyone to check out the ads banner on our site. You bill see a banner for Sureshot Custom made jewelry. Click on the banner and check out the great deals from our friends at Key of A!

Are you a Collector?

     Why do you collect?  For many of us it is by complete accident.  I fell into collecting hot sauces by chance.  I love hot and spicy food and would buy sauces from the different areas I visited when traveling for work.  In the beginning I would only buy one bottle but if I liked it I would wish I had bought more.  I then began buying two bottles.  Before long I had a lot of bottles all over the house so I made a display cabinet for them.  Friends and relatives would see it and soon they were on the hunt to find me a bottle of something I did not have.  Within a few years what started as a quest for great hot sauces to use turned into a Huge collection of bottles from all over the world.    

     Number One Rule of collecting.  Do it for your OWN personal enjoyment!  Unless you collect something of intrinsic value like silver, gold, or very high end items - the value of your collection will likely decline the more you add to it.  I guess the best way to illustrate and explain this is by a friends recent inheritance.  She was lucky enough to have her grandmother leave her a large collection of salt and pepper shakers.   The grandmothers thoughts were she was leaving a valuable asset that the granddaughter could use to go to college, pay off her house or raise her own children.  The sad fact is that when she attempted to sell the collection she could not find any buyers!

     With most collections the fun and enjoyment of collecting is finding the items you do not have and adding them.  If you can just buy everything at once then what's the point.  So my friend was left with a collection that costs 10s of thousands of dollars to accumulate but could not sell.  Fortunately for her I had just started my store and convinced her to get a booth to sell her collection piece by piece.  After over three years she is finally getting near the end of selling the majority of her collection.  She is keeping quite a few of the special sets that her grandmother was really proud of to pass on to her children.

     How and where to find things to collect?  First you should never collect anything that is going to cause you to spend money you need to live on.  Only spend a little of the extra money you have.  Make a budget - decide on a maximum amount you will spend on anything for your collection.   There are a lot of places to look to get the best deal.   Ebay, Etsy, Craigs List, Estate Sales, Auctions, Local Newspapers, Garage Sales and of course Antique Stores and Flea Markets.  Learn the value of what you collect so you can make intelligent offers or bids when you find that special item you just 'have to have'.   Clearly (of course I am biased here) The most fun can be found when searching in Flea Markets and Antique Style stores.  Most of them have vendors who scour the country side looking for things to buy and put in their booths.  They will buy storage units or boxes of things at garage sales and price everything low to sell it quick.  They have done all the work and spent all the money going from garage sale to garage sale or estates sales and auctions.   Vendors do not have the time or patience to look up everything they get in a sale so you are the benefit of great deals if you look hard.  In many stores you can shop in heated and air conditioned comfort and even bring your pets with you!  You can spend many enjoyable hours searching and finding treasures for your collection and have fun doing it.

It is important once again to note "Collect" for your own personal enjoyment.  Please realize that most of what you collect only has value to you.  Buying collector plates from late night TV with the hopes that they will go up in value should never be done.  Be careful of buying fads and paying too much for something.  A great example is the Beanie Baby Fad that swept the country a few years ago.  People were paying huge amounts of money for some Beanie Baby's that you can now buy for 50 cents.   Unless you are very knowledgeable or an expert do not buy anything with an expectation of leaving a valuable inheritance for your children to count on.   Collect and have Fun!

Much to the chagrin of the masses LOL I am BACK!  We have been fighting internet access issues with slow DSL at the store.  It was so slow that if I was online on the computer and the checkout used the credit card machine it would knock me off line.  Got tired of fighting it.  Fortunately another service finally extended their reach to our store and now we are back with a vengeance! LOL  Things are really happening now.   We just expanded our furniture store area with custom booths designed for furniture and home decor!   Watch us Grow!

For Immediate Release For More Information

Floyd & Bonnie Durk

11225 E. Robb Cook Rd.

Centralia, MO 65240

573-696-3619

Dlites208@aol.com

Antique Lamps To Light in Missouri

Coal-oil, or kerosene lighting, is often “mystic” to those who are too young to have experienced the warm glow that illuminated our homes in years past. Collectors restore and light the old lamps that were essential for our parents and grandparents. Many young people today are discovering the nostalgia and beauty that antique lighting add to their home décor—especially family heirloom lamps.

Collectors who prize old lamps will hold their 40^th annual Gathering (convention) August 1-4, 2012 at the University Plaza Hotel, Springfield, Missouri. The Gathering is sponsored by The National Association of Aladdin Lamp Collectors (www.aladdincollectors.org)/

Floyd & Bonnie Durk are the General Knights (hosts) who plan and organize events. Calling themselves Aladdin Knights, the group is America's largest club of antique lamp collectors. More than 500 are expected to attend.

Lamp and lighting collecting clubs in attendance will be: Aladdin Knights of the Mystic Light (www.aladdinknights.org), The Rushlight Club (www.rushlight.org), oldest lighting club in America, who will hold their summer quarterly meeting in Springfield, MO; The Night Light Club (www.nightlightclub.org), collectors of miniature lamps; The Historical Lighting Society of Canada (www.historical-lighting.on.ca); Historical Lighting Club of England; the Guild of Lamp Researchers (www.lampguild.org) and the Fairy Lamp Collectors (www.fairy-lamp.com).

Collectors and students of antique lighting attend to study and learn history of lighting ranging from rushlights and whale oil to discovery of new fuels and technology in lamp improvements. Aladdin Lighting Technologies, Inc., manufacturer of Aladdin lamps, will be present. Gathering events include an auction, educational seminars, memorabilia display room, raffle, banquet and the huge Show & Sale. The “Ladies of the Knights” donate their time and talents to make a beautiful, handmade quilt that a lucky member will win at the annual banquet.

The Antique Lamp Show & Sale opens to registered members at noon Friday and to the public on later Friday and on Saturday. Spectacular, rare, and beautiful are words that describe this unique and unusual show featuring antique lighting. World-class dealers will offer an immense variety of antique lighting and accessories. Lamps of all kinds including colored pattern oil lamps, Gone-With-The-Wind, art glass lamps, opalescent lamps, miniature lamps, student lamps, finger lamps, Victorian hanging fixtures, floor lamps, center-draft lamps, as well as the collectible early electric lamps, plus the world-famous Aladdin lamps including their Deco style figurines!

The public is invited to the 23rd International Lamp Show & Sale on Friday, August 3 from 3 to 7 PM and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the University Plaza Hotel. There is a nominal admission fee. See the website: http://http://www.aladdincollectors.org/ for details.

For more information, contact Floyd and Bonnie Durk, 11225 E. Robb Cook Rd., Centralia, MO 65240. Email: Dlites208@aol.com

-30-

New Items always arriving!

 Wow - the only word to describe the new china hutch and buffet we just added to our store.  This is a custom unit made out of solid wood - no sawdust here!  In face we believe most of the wood is walnut which is very rare now.  You can buy both of these for $2299 and if you act quick we will throw in a matching walnut table with seating for 8!




We are always adding things to the store that pique my interest - here are a couple of things we just added last week.  One is a night light for a man cave!  Every man needs one of these.  It can be had for the low price of $49.00

Also new in the store are a great pair of old phones.  One is a wall hanger and is complete - it is on sale for $159.00.   The other is a operator phone from the early part of the century and has the separate box with ringer on it for just $100.00

 And we also have this cute puppy that just arrived - it is a syrow wood Scottie with glass eyes and for sale at the low low price of $41.00

New TV Show Coming!

Breaking News!   Our friends at Evident Entertainment will premier their new show called SOLD! on the History Channel, 11 April.  It airs at 9:00 PM Eastern/8:00 PM Central   Check out the quick trailer on the front page of our website!

This show takes place right here in Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks and stars Rick Bryant who owns a family run auction company.  This new show blends all the fire and brimstone action of a fast paced auction with the history and background of things being sold.  Every week will feature unique and one of a kind items and the people who want them. 

Please let everyone you know to tune in and help make the premier of SOLD! a record breaker!  

Secretary Drop Down Leaf Desk

We are starting to get a lot of interesting things in the store and as time permits I will try to let you know about them on this blog. Just arrived is this great looking secretary desk. It is drop leaf with a leather writing surface.

 Check out the inside of this desk - it has several hidden compartments.

 This would look perfect in any hallway or den.  It is available right now in the store for the low price of $550.00   Act fast - this one won't last long. 

Great Spring Deals!

We just moved a lot of things in from our recent estate buy.  Now is the time to buy before anyone else beats you to this great deal.  If you want to buy any of the things I am showing today on this blog ask for Mike and get a Special 15% discount on these items only.

Check out this great Formal Dining Room Ensemble - It is made by Bernhardt and Seats 12.  Comes with Table and 10 chairs and 2 captains chairs.  Also comes with custom made table pads.     Check out this great china hutch below that comes with it.  On the left is the very nice roll around server.

You can get this entire Formal Set for $3550.00 (or the smart buyer will mention this blog and get 15% off)

We also have several other items from this estate like a Retro Crush Velvet couch in excellent condition for $850.  Very nice Lazy Boy Couch and Love Seat for $440, an Ethan Allen Corner Desk with working refrigerator for $450.00.   There is a nice secretary desk for 379 and Mirror for $129.00

New Estate Just Added

As many of you know we are a "UNIQUE" store that offeres a lot of different things.  Many people look for antiques, others search for addtions for their collections.  A lot of what we offer are things people can use in everyday life.

We just added an estate that has all of the above!  We just added to our furniture floor some very nice living room couchs made by Lazy Boy and Ethan Allen.

Also as part of this estate is a HUGE Formal Dining Room Ensemble that includes 12 chairs, China Hutch and Buffet.  This unit is not in the store yet but will be soon.

I will post more information about all of it and pictures in the next day or so.  Keep watching!

Time for Some Fun

Everyone learns a lot watching all the TV shows like American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, X-Files and so on.  Well its time we bring to light a recent find that may shake the artifact world to its very core!  When it comes to antiques no one beats this find.

We all know our government is at best inept and at worst corrupt.  Everyday you read stories about them buying a toilet seat for $10,000 or funding research to watch shrimp on a treadmill.   So when we had the opportunity to bid on a government storage unit we had no idea what we would end up with.  Deep within the dusty old storage boxes in an non decrepit government building were some truly amazing finds. 

Take a close look at this fossil we found.  This thing totally blew our minds - It was still packaged and ready for shipment along with its shipping lable.  But look really close at the claws of the beast.

Can you see it?  Buried deep in the claw of this old dinosaur!   Here is another picture closer up.  Keep in mind that this head is a couple of feet long. 

Now how did a coca cola bottle end up in the claws of an extinct dinosaur?  In my opinion the scientists who found this were aware of something extraordinary.  It must have been trapped in a time warp experiment straight out of the cold war era!  They did the right thing and contacted personnel from U.S. Department of Science and were ordered to ship it to a special unit within the department of Justice.  Specifically they were to ship to Agent Scully and Muldar.  We have no idea what bureaucratic mishap caused these finds to be stored for years and how they ended up being auctioned off but I am sure there will be a

blue ribbon committee convened to investigate.

Along with the soda drinking Dino were a couple of other oddities like this dinosaur egg complete with a dinosaur.    Also in the box was the fossil of another small dinosaur and the original shipping label.

You can see and view these great finds at our store.  The raptors were moved into the furniture room so we would have space to display these new additions to our store.    We also have a huge slab or rock of some kind with fossilized fish on both sides.  For those of you old enough - think back -Rod Serling -Theme song of the twilight zone.

Baggage Cart Just Arrived Man Cave Approved

Just arrived this great old baggage cart - this would be the perfect addition to any Man Cave.  It is made of steel and solid wood planks -  Use your imagination - The steel painted black - wood cleaned, sanded, stained, and varnished.  This is a man caves perfect piece of furniture - nearly indestructible!

What is great about this piece is the vendor who owns it has several more and all available.    We also have a lot of other great Man Cave Items in the store - how about a 6 foot tall Marilyn Monroe Card Board figure?   One or our vendors is a retired Taxidermist and has some of his extra mounts in the store - Bear Head, Hog Head (For your Harley Guys), Deer, and the every elusive and very rare Jackalope!   Just added by another vendor are several mounted trophy size fish.  Included are Bass, Stripers, Wall Eye, and huge Crappie.

All over the store are primitives like old saws, tools, posters of great looking beers held by attractive ladies!  We also have a vendor who makes custom steel cutouts of just about anything.  Some of his most popular are the Man-Cave Sign and the Harley Parking Only.    He can make just about anything for you when it comes to signs.   Check out our web site and enter sign in the search engine to see a few examples - more to come.  If you have any hobby or interest and want something made special for you cut out of steel let us know.

Now for all you real men out there - come visit our booth at the KBGX Womans Show being held at the Ozarks Empire Fair Grounds this Saturday, the 25th of February!  We expect over 8,000 visitors this year at the show and only the bravest of men! 

Snooze and Lose!

We had a great weekend!   Busy Busy Busy - One of the things I have learned is if you see something in a flea market and think you want to buy it - buy it.  It won't be there when you come back.

This was really illustrated on Sunday - I had a regular customer come in from St Louis looking to buy things for his store up there.  One of the things he looked at was a very nice old big leather satchel for $95.00  The unique thing about it was it was made in Springfield MO.   He looked at it and wanted to know if he could get a dealer discount.  I contacted the owner of the bag and he was able to lower the price a little.  I went and found the customer and told him what we could do and he said he would think about it.

In the meantime I was also thinking about it.  If he did not buy it I was going to.  It was a great looking leather satchel in its own right but having the bottom stamped with the name of the manufacturer on the bottom and made in Springfield MO was awesome.  I was going to buy it and keep for display in the store. I never had time to research it but I would guess it was made in the 30s or 40s.

Next thing I notice is another customer walking up to check out carrying the satchel.  As the customer is leaving the store with it, the first customer comes up and sees it leaving.  He gives me a look and a lopsided grin and says's "darn, I just decided I was going to buy it"  We both laughed as I told him "you know better then to hesitate buying when in a flea market"

One of the things that surprises me the most are the number of great buys our customers find every day.  I work here and not a day goes by that someone brings something to the counter I wish I had seen first.

Booth Information and Tips

We get a lot of emails and phone calls from people around the country wanting information on how to get a booth in our store.  We currently have a waiting list so if you want a booth please send us an email of what you will be selling and a good phone number so we can contact you when we have a booth opening. Some are from long time vendors and some from people who want to try it for the first time.  

First I thought I would explain what our store offers so you can compare it to others you may be considering.   We have electric power at nearly every booth.  Our store is well lit and we have wide aisles for customers to walk down - plenty of room for wheel chairs or walkers.  We also set up our store so that everything is on a simple to follow grid with lettered rows and each booth numbered.  You are not following some maze.   Our store also has a huge parking lot right in front of the store with plenty of lighting at night.  A safe and secure place to park and shop.

Customers love the fact that we have two sizes of shopping carts available.  We also have a separate loading area for picking up larger items that does not interfere with the convenient front door checkout.  We have elected to provide our customers with a variety of soft drinks and water at the best prices in the area.  Complementary coffee is also provided all day long.   Customers can also place higher priced items on layaway for 30 days!

We also provide daily emails of your sales.  Once a week we also send you a month to date recap of your sales.  Usually we do this on Monday if I remember to push the button.   We have also launched our new on line Market Place where not only can your items be for sale in the store - they will have nationwide exposure.   On our web site you will notice we have a place for people to contact the store if they have things for sale.   We pass these leads on to our vendors via email so they have first chance at new merchandise.

In addition to the rented booth space our vendors can place bigger furniture on our furniture floor for sale.

What makes for a successful booth?   The simple answer is price - vendors need to buy cheap and sell cheap.   But price is only part of the equation.   It does no good to have great prices if everything is just stuffed into your booth.,  You need to set your booth up to present your items to the customer.  Most people shop from the knees to the shoulder.  Small things on the floor will generally be ignored.   You need to keep your booth clean and neat.  If you sell clothes or toys then you will need to spend a lot more time working your booth.  Clothes and toys tend to end up on the floor and makes the booth look junky.  There is a danger in having too much "Stuff" in your booth.  If it is too cluttered customers will just walk by.  Having a booth that has a theme and great eye appeal is the secret to great sales. 

It is also a good idea to change the look of your booth every few months.  We have a lot of repeat customers always looking for new and different things.  If you booth never changes they tend to just walk by it.  Keep it look fresh and inviting.   People are always looking for good deals and most of them want quality.  If all you have to offer is wal mart overstock items from china the chances are you will not be successful.  Keep a wide variety.

Women Show

One day I will get the hang of writing on the blog more often.  The problem is I type faster then I think and that gets me in trouble!

One week to go before the KGBX Womens show at the Empire Fair Grounds - We are excited to be part of this and will have some great items on display and for sale in our booth.   We will be located in the East Hall - Once you go in the hall hang a hard right and you will see our banner above our booth right against the far wall.

The focus of our booth is to demonstrate that some Antique Flea Market stores are a great resource for finding those special decorating items needed for the home or office.  Our store bridges the gap between dank old stuffy flea markets and antique stores and the new higer over priced Antique Malls.  With over 200 vendors and most of the women we have a huge variety of booths and products in our store.

On Line Store Update - we have hired some help to load new items on our online store.  It will take some time but eventually we hope to have a lot a variety and options for those of you too far away to visit out store.   What is great about our on line store is that most of the items you see on line are available in our store for you to buy and pick up.    As time goes on I will try to high light some of the great one of a kind things we will be able to offer!

Breaking News

We are proud to announce that we have secured a booth at the KGBX Womens Show to be held at the Fairgrounds in Springfield MO on the 25th of February 2012.  Hours will be 8am - 4pm

Our booth is dedicated to our 156 plus Women Vendors that have booths in our store.  They are Entrepreneurs in the True Sense of the American Spirit.  We are going to be displaying and selling items from their booths in the store at the Women Show.

Our online store continues to grow with items being added every day.  Right now we are only able to offer shipping on smaller items, but over time we hope to ship everything.   One of our new vendors offers hand made wooden pens made out of a variety of exotic woods.  He custom forms the pens and used modern pen and ink inserts.  Not only are these some very beautiful pens you can find new ink at any office supply store.  They make great gifts.  Please check our online store under collectables or unique items.  You can also see them in the store in showcase 2.

We are also proud to announce that Antique Phoenix has just added a booth in our store.  He has some really cool things that we are adding to the online store.  Check out his Barber Back Cabinet and Machinists Tool box under Antiques.

For all you pocket watch people - We recommend that you go to Midwest Watch and Clock for cleaning and repairs.  His customer base is worldwide and James the owner of Midwest will be happy to talk with you concerning your pocket watches.  You can find a link to his online store on our web site on the right.

Expanding our online store - we are in the process of really expanding our on line store.  We have hired someone just to post things online.   With ten of thousands of items for sale in the store we have a huge inventory base.  Unlike most stores which concentrate on just antiques or collectibles we are offereing anything and everything.

The great thing about our store is all the things listed on the online store are also available in the store for our local buyers.  They do not miss out on great deals.   Once we sell something in the store our system alerts us to remove it from the online data base.

Searching for Information on the Web

Still working on this blog thing LOL - As time goes on I am sure I will get the hang of it.  Right not I type faster then my brain thinks and since I am a member of the male species I guess that is normal!

At the end of this month our store will be working a booth at the Greater Springfield Garage Sale at the Fairgrounds in Springfield MO.   We will have a booth dedicated to helping anyone who walks in find out what they own and what it may be worth.  This is our second year doing this and we had a blast last year when we did not know anything.  Now I know that I know less then I did before.  The great thing is we have some great vendors with expertise in a lot of different areas helping man the booth.

One of the greatest tools we have is the computer.  We are able to get online and serach a lot of data bases to help the customers determine what they have.   Without a doubt one of our greatest tools is worthpoint.   Once we are able to indentify an object we can then use the worthpoint data base to help determine its aproximate value.   Many times we see items that have sold in prior years but have developed our own system to use the worthpoint value, when it was sold, and come up with a realistic value in todays Market Place. 

Many times people want to know how we find out what something is and what it is worth.  Patience!  Sometimes it is easy.  Just google a name and description and out pops a list of sites that talk about it.  Other items are more problamatic.  Then it becomes a detective process.  Plug in a description, color, size, anything that pops to mind.  Often that will still not help but then you need to use common sense and quickly scan all the results of what comes up in a google search.  When you find something that is close to what you are searching for - read all about that item.  The narative about it may give you a clue in how to describe what it is you are looking for.

Don't get frustrated - keep in mind that you want to have fun in your detective work and don't be afraid to ask anyone you know questions about anything you are searching for.  Finally when you find something that is really odd or unique and can't quite lock it down - search for clubs that may be able to help you find out what it is.  For example if you have an old tin car - you may find a tin car club with members willing to help you find out what you have.  Always be polite and if you find it is not worth what you thought don't get mad at the messenger!