Barrett Street Antique Mall and Auction Center

They would not accept my credit card without me giving them all of my personal information for them to store in their computer system. Full name, address, phone number… I was making a regular purchase in store and they said this is their new policy. This is crazy. I will not be back.

Thought Alison M. from Va Beach made a ridiculous comment. The venders are not lazy. Does she know how much work it takes to dress a store. It does matter how a shop looks. It is their choice on what they display and what they sell. What a stupid statement. Other than Tom being rude at times during the auction, it is a great place. Tom is not always the most courteous host, he guards the lunch tickets and snaps at you if you ask an innocent question sometimes, but hey, he does own the place and my opinion is not going to make or break the store. In spite of that, my wife and I have a good time.

Love this place. So many knick knacks and greats furniture pieces. Coming back here for sure for more antique hunts.

So this place is pretty huge your bound to find something that you’ll like. But it may take you two or more hours. Because you have to sift thru all the junk. This women (short, old lady, glasses) literally kicked me out. She was such a nuisance 30 min till closing she said we will be closing soon. Okay got it, then 15 till she came and told me again. Then 10 till she started following me around I mean come on lady go sit back down and hold tight. So btw they close at 6pm and make sure you go before 4pm so you can look all the way thru.

Its ok. Hit or miss with the finds. Wish the people working were a little more pleasant. One visit the lady behind the counter was yelling at someone on her cell phone while I was browsing the showcases …a little unpleasant. Another visit I asked to look into one of the glass cases and received a heavy sigh with «I’ll be there in a minute». Another visit I was lucky enough to witness the owner belittling and yelling at one of her employees right in front of quite a few customers, (she could have easily pulled the employee aside instead of at the cash register.) This turned me off as a buyer but also as a potential dealer here.

A few years ago I went in here on a day off and spent a few hours looking around, I had nothing in particular that I was looking for so it was fun just to browse the wares and look at all the goodies.
Yesterday, however, was an entirely different story. I went in looking for a specific item: a plateau mirror. It looks like a vintage mirror with feet to put on a dresser or nightstand and place perfume bottles, they’re lovely, trust me.
Well for starters I did find some, in the glass cases, but nearly all of them were listed «NFS» (Not for sale) so that was frustrating. After talking to one of the ladies working there they told me that those are hard to find and that most people won’t sell them to you so those are used for display only. WTF. Why do you need something for display in an antique store? It’s not Nordstrom’s or Dillard’s for Christ’s sake. People go in there and look at old shoes, moldy locks, and rusted furniture for their yards…
After finding several not for sale in the glass displays I browsed the store with my friend and we were able to find two others that were for sale. One wasn’t really what I was looking for and the second, though very pretty, was badly damaged on the bottom and the mirror was nearly popping out. So I passed.
While browsing I did see some other neat items but nearly all of the ones I really liked, like a big fence room divider painted a lovely shade of blue, were labeled «NFS». Actually, I found a lot of things while looking around that weren’t for sale. This really irritated me because, as I mentioned, I don’t think most people are concerned with the decorations of an antique store or warehouse when antiquing, they want to find the cool vintage or different items they won’t be able to find somewhere else. I can understand these vendors want a few items to set them apart from the others since the place is so large, but if you find something you love enough not to sell it, put it in your own house. I see it as a form of laziness, so they don’t have to keep finding cool stuff they just find a few pieces they know people will love and list them not to be sold. Instead, why not try finding pieces people will love and sell them, challenging yourself to keep finding beautiful vintage items, and making customers want to keep coming back to your spot?
Ugh. Either way, I did find some neat things, but I was pretty miffed about the above… not high on my list. They have a large selection, but chances are ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ you can’t buy it even if you love it.

Stopped in here on a whim today because it had been a while since I scratched my antiquing itch and holy smokes, what a spot! There is so much stuff in here ranging from all different eras, you are destined to find something that strikes your fancy. I was especially impressed with their jewelry section which has an onsite jeweler who does rapairs, I could have blown an entire years income on costume jewelry alone. The prices here are a bit higher than I would like to see, $ 28 for a single, small Autumn Harvest Pyrex bowl, with a significant chip in it, me thinks not. I realized I am going to have to leave my son at home, commit to a few hours of browsing and really dig for deals and reasonable prices. The dealers are constantly restocking their booths so you need to come often to get the goods. I am excited about this place and am going to make it a point to come in at least once a month. They also have a separate building for auctions, but that’s really not my thing so I cant comment on that aspect of this business.

As an avid antiquer I’ve hit up this place several times. I’ve never gone to the auction just checked out the various dealer booths. The first time I came here was great. They had so much freaking stuff I spent 2 hours poking around.
My recent visit was so so. Being an antique dealer myself I understand you’ve got to make money but the pricing was way off. It seems they’ve raised the prices since my last visit in August. While I understand things are collectable, I can’t imagine paying $ 16 for one Fiesta-​ware plate. And $ 18 for a divided Pyrex casserole dish sans lid is a little absurd.
If you can get over the sticker shock or have loads of cash to blow I recommend this place. It’s not all bad. Just be prepared to dig for reasonable priced items.

Another crack den for antique addicts like myself. This place is a literal warehouse FULL of stuff from every decade. I spent 1.5 hours in here with my hubby in tow on a Saturday morning. I saw a teak buffet table that I’d have probably sold a kidney for, but I quite like/​need my kidney at the moment more than a buffet table. The price tag definitely said «I Know I’m Hot» and I just don’t have that type of change lying around to spend. There were also some amazing sunburst retro syroco clocks for sale behind it, but they too had a price tag that made me nervous. I could have spent a lot more time in here, and I probably will in the future so if you see me say ‘Hi’. This place is just too amazing to not visit at least once a month. Be prepared to drop some $$$$ though, I didn’t see anything that was on the inexpensive side, BUT they were having a Spring Cleaning 20% off sale. It doesn’t make that much difference when something is already ridiculously expensive.

There is nothing I don’t love about this place! You can get completely lost in here for a day sifting through stuff. There are two parts to Barrett Street, there are vendor areas and what seems to be an open (non stall vendor) area. I’ve certainly had more luck find and and pricing wise with the open area. I’ve purchased furniture, stained glass and more. Always easy to do business with and occasionally open to negotiation. They used to have a bench jeweler on site who does repairs and occasional appraisals, I’m not sure they still offer this service.
This is the perfect spot for a rainy day and to find one of a kind items for the home.

I drove by this curiosity 1,000 times before I finally couldn’t take it any more and had to check it out. I call it a curiosity because you can’t miss it from I-​264 if you’re headed towards the Oceanfront. I
It’s right off the Lynnhaven exit to the left and the yard facing the highway is full old store signs and trellises and wagon wheels and pieces of farm equipment and so on.
I found out that’s just the tip of an enormous iceberg of antiques and treasures inside. It’s the size of a warehouse. It IS a warehouse I guess. And you can be in there 45 minutes and think you’ve seen it all and then you turn a corner and it just goes ON and ON and ON.
The front area has huge conversation pieces you might be able to fit in a mansion or on a movie set – bigger than life figurines, grand old mantles pieces, department store displays, merry go round horses – that sort of thing.
There are also these big Gothic looking wooden wall dividers and a bar that looks like it belongs in Lord of the Rings. Then there’s just room after room and booth after booth of regular antique stuff – furniture, clothes, telephones, phonographs, lamps, whatever.
My head’s usually spinning by the time I leave. Apparently it’s also an auction house though I’ve never been to an auction there.