Secondhand Rose

Great little honey hole for the wanna be picker, seasoned interior decorator or shopping for a unique gift!

This is an unusual review for me as I’ve never critiqued a second hand, or more impolitely termed thrift, store. I’ve always associated these stores as a step above Salvation Army or Goodwill. When I started my wrist watch collection, which grew to close to five hundred watches, I relied on EBay and craigslist more than frequenting antique stores.
Secondhand Rose is classified as a consignment operated type of establishment. Not true. As I was talking with the proprietor, vendors rent space on a monthly basis and Secondhand Rose, upon sale of an object, will take 10% commission. The proprietor pointed out that, of course, a street level lease could range up to $ 240 a month. I was very surprised and asked a stupid question «Do they make any money off of this arrangement?». Her reply was that the lease holder right across from the cash register had been there seven years! You can’t miss Secondhand Rose… on nice days the proprietor displays some of the junk, er antiques, right outside the establishment (as seen in photograph).
Most Lodians that shop on School Street where Secondhand Rose is located already knows that this establishment has two levels… one you can see from street level; and they also have a basement level (where I presume the rent is quite a bit cheaper). Each vendor has a certain amount of square footage for their items; and each vendor can be generally categorized by the items they are trying to sell (ie, German Beer Steins, Costume Jewelry, etc).
Objects for sale range from furniture, clothes, paintings, photographs, cameras, old typewriters, beer steins, and even costume jewelry! When I was perusing the various levels of Secondhand Rose… the objects that caught my eye were beer steins from Germany /​Austria (a little used) that were selling for $ 40; old typewriters (remember what those contraptions were?) that ranged from $ 40-​$ 80; some old cameras that ranged from $ 50-​$ 75; and some small mantel clocks that were selling for less than $ 50. There were some 1950s vintage wrist watches that were selling for $ 40 that attracted my interest, but since I’m a collector I knew that was about $ 25 more than market. I didn’t find anything to my liking today… but you never know… That’s the fascination of shopping at antique stores… you just might find that one particular item… that will turn around and be a lottery winner.
As I was leaving Secondhand Rose, the proprietor was pushing an original one-​of-​a-​kind pre-​production lithograph from an artist I’ve never heard of for over $ 2000 to another gentleman. Wow, a $ 2k piece of object d’art in a place called Secondhand Rose? Doesn’t sound right, does it?!? I don’t think she sold that one.
For that hard to find gift for your collector acquaintance, you’ll probably find what you’re looking for at Secondhand Rose more likely than not. There are secondhand clothes stores, like Clothes Closet, right next door to Secondhand Rose; and there are strictly Antique Furniture stores on School Street; but Secondhand Rose has a cornucopia of anything you can imagine. At a higher price than most comparable establishments, but at least you’ll find whatever in one place.