Shopping - Antiques And Collectibles
Let’s get one thing clear; I am not an antiques expert. The strict definition of an antique is anything 100 years old or older. Adding the word collectibles is the clue that you shouldn’t hold me to that 100-year rule, though certainly some stores in this chapter do adhere to that definition religiously.
The Richmond region is home to more antiques stores than you can shake an antique saber at. I honestly don’t know how they all manage, but for some, it is by banding together under one roof at an antiques mall. Several notable ones are listed below. Of course, there are just too many antiques and decorative arts and collectible stores in the Richmond area to list them all here, and what some people consider antiques shopping, other people consider merely treasure hunting. You’ll find some thrift and consignment stores that might have some antiques but are weighted more towards the collectibles in the “Shopping” chapter.
If the thought of browsing around antiques stores puts you into a coma, consider two related yet quite different activities. Stop by a fast-paced antiques auction at one of the auction houses listed below. There’s plenty of action there, so it might change your mind about antiques. Or check out the architectural salvage yards in Richmond. They are full of building materials and house and building parts that nobody makes quite the same way anymore. In each category—Antique Dealers, Malls, Shows, Auctions, and Salvage Yards—the listings start in Richmond and head west, north, and east before crossing the river to the South Side.
Shopping
Richmond’s array of stores includes many of the chains you encounter just about anywhere in the U.S. of A.—Target, Gap, Whole Foods, and on and on. Throughout the region there are several malls and strips filled with the expected, but the big players are two high-end malls—the larger, two-level Short Pump Town Center, and Stony Point Fashion Park. The former is stacked with Nordstrom, Macy’s, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, and dozens of other national retailers along with some local stores. Just south of the river, Stony Point Fashion Park features Saks, Dillard’s, Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, and more of the usual suspects. Both malls tried to re-create the old-fashioned outdoor shopping feel that Richmond already has in spades, or at least in Carytown, Shockoe Slip, Libbie and Grove, and Lakeside.
Richmond’s shopping districts have their own organic feel that draws shoppers in for the realness vibe as much as for the good goods, not to mention that the food and ambience are far superior to any mall food court. Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom have an urban chic about them, with cobblestones and small brick-faced shops intermixed with larger stores in old warehouses. North Side has an interesting little shopping area on MacArthur Avenue, and the Lakeside section is a destination for thrift and gifts. The shops on the avenues of Libbie and Grove have an appeal beyond their West End addresses. But just one word sums up Richmond’s most fun and funky shopping destination: Carytown. This 1-mile stretch of shops, restaurants, and other businesses along West Cary Street between Thompson and Boulevard was named the South’s ninth-best shopping neighborhood by Southern Living in December 2008. Take that, big malls!
Overview
This chapter doesn’t come close to naming all the worthwhile shopping destinations in and around town—it couldn’t possibly. What follows is a sampling of stores in categories in which Richmond excels. Not all the gems are in jewelry stores, but if you browse the shopping districts named above, you’ll find many more. FYI, the “A River Runs Through It” and “Recreation” chapters contain most of the sporting-goods store information.
1. Bradley’S Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 644-7305
Address: 101 E. Main St.
Description: Mr. Bradley has been in the antiques business for 65 years, high-end all the way, so you should expect to see only the finest furniture and artwork when you step in his shop. Covet the 18th- and 19th-century furniture—Queen Anne, Chippendale, Victorian—or check out his silver collection or the 18th- and 19th-century paintings. It’s just a couple of blocks from the Jefferson Hotel, behind the Richmond Public Library. Bradley’s is open by appointment only, but it’s worth making the call.
2. Sheppard Street Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 355-7454
Address: 103 S. Sheppard St.
Description: There’s a definite botanical vibe in an English-country-garden sort of way here, but with some more modern touches mixed in. Buying trips to England help keep this whimsical Carytown shop floor-to-ceiling full, and looking closely here brings rewards for your home and garden. You’ll browse amidst 19th-century furniture, decorative accessories, antique linens, silver, and lamps. Garden accessories, antique and otherwise, are available year-round, but the owner pulls out all the stops on garden ornaments in the spring. If the store isn’t on Sheppard Street when you go, don’t fret; it has likely moved within Carytown to Cary Street, but details weren’t firm at deadline.
3. Three Swallows
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 622-7760
Address: 1839 W. Broad St.
Description: If you are in the mood for something exotic, wander into Three Swallows and be surrounded by Asian furniture and accessories. Eighty percent of what’s here is Chinese, though there are objects from Mongolia and Tibet as well. Not everything is antique here, but what is, you won’t find anywhere else around town. Take the Chinese altar table, the rosewood Chinese cabinet with ox-bone inlay, the baskets, the carved water bucket with a swan handle, painted screens, the jade carvings, or the statuary. The store is closed on Sun and Mon.
4. Elephant’S Toe Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 282-5550
Address: 5808 Grove Ave.
Description: This shop specializes in pieces as unique as its name. Much of the American, English, French, and German furniture dates from the turn of the century to the 1920s, though there are some items from the 19th century, and even earlier if the owner just had to have it. With a selection of chandeliers, mirrors, and sideboards—mostly antique, but some reproduction—this shop outfits many a dining room and entryway, down to the finishing touches of urns and other decorative accessories.
5. Kim Faison Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 282-3736
Address: 5605 Grove Ave.
Description: The fastest way to get to Europe from Richmond is to head to Kim Faison’s shop. You travel across the pond just by walking in the door. The owner takes several buying trips a year to Europe, looking primarily for 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century English, French, northern European, and Scandinavian antiques. The painted Swedish furniture is amazing, and her collection of Delft pottery is among the best in the country. The furniture and accessories are all antique; you won’t find reproductions or any mid-century modern here. The shop is open Mon through Sat, and don’t worry if you don’t have a truck with you; they routinely deliver pieces to Florida and Connecticut.
6. Stanley Antiques And Fine Art
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 288-2011
Address: 5612 Grove Ave.
Description: Located in the Libbie and Grove shopping area in the West End, this shop carries 18th- and 19th-century furniture, art, and accessories from England, France, Japan, China, and elsewhere, as well as letting mid-century modern pieces in the door. The owner has a background in art history and conservation, which accounts for her wide-ranging collection of antiques and fine art.
7. Bellevue Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 262-7002
Address: 4034 MacArthur Ave.
Description: This 1,000-square-foot shop in the cute retail area on MacArthur Avenue in North Side is owned by the owner and manager at Antique Village in Hanover County. Stop in here when you’re shopping at Once Upon a Vine, a nearby wine shop. Bellevue offers a general line of merchandise with some actual antique furniture, but here you’re more likely to find more pottery, jadeite, toys, and advertising. The shop is open Thurs through Sat.
8. Robin’S Nest Antiques And Collectibles
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 553-1061
Address: 6925 Lakeside Ave.
Description: This Lakeside shop offers an affordable mix of antiques and collectibles, including sterling silver, mainly flatware, postcards, and linens. Some of the furniture is primitive, some country, and some is from the 19th and early 20th century. In business for 15 years, the store is closed on Sun.
9. Savenkov Gallery
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (617) 283-5050
Address: 628 Scotter Hills Court
Description: Specializing in Biedermeier, Empire, and Neoclassical antiques, this husband-and-wife team moved their high-end antiques business from Boston to Richmond recently. Their stunning collection also includes Art Deco from 1920 to 1930. Once their European buying trips turn up gems, the furniture is refurbished by craftsmen at their workshop near Prague. The owners, who are members of the Antiques Council, open the gallery by appointment only.
10. Bob Blevins Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 598-4830
Address: 4171 Old Buckingham Rd.
Description: In the antiques business since 1994, Bob Blevins has a full antiques restoration shop that’s been going strong for 30 years. His 1,500-square-foot retail space has furniture from 1690 into the 20th century. Most of the furniture is American, but there are some fine English chests and a revolving bookcase made in Dover in 1920. Besides the furniture, you’ll have plenty of glasswork to look over. The shop is open Mon through Sat.
11. Tye’S Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 598-1220
Address: 4050 Anderson Hwy.
Description: This family-run business features 1,800 square feet of Victorian, Empire, primitive, and country antique furniture, along with pieces of more recent vintage. At least 70 percent of the contents of the place is furniture, most of it antique, including some mid-19th-century pieces. The owners like the old styles but carry items that appeal to all sorts of customers, including plenty of glassware and collectibles. Along with the retail trade, they operate a furniture restoration business and can handle the lost arts of caning chairs. They are open Mon through Sat, and on Sun by appointment only.
12. West End Antiques Mall
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 359-1600
Address: 2004 Staples Mill Rd.
Description: Get your game face on before you decide to tackle the two buildings full of 250 booths in what Richmond Magazine readers always say is the best antiques mall around. That’s 53,000 square feet of antiques and collectibles just off West Broad Street in the Crossroads Shopping Center. It’s mind-boggling. Of course, the quality and array of goods varies from vendor to vendor, but in all this space, it would seem you could find the (fill in the blank here) of your dreams. Local delivery is available, and they offer a 72-hour return policy for a full refund. They are open seven days a week.
13. Willow Place Antiques Gallery
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 288-6301
Address: 5446 W. Broad St.
Description: With 20 booths of high-end antiques, including old wallpaper and 18th- and 19th-century furniture from Europe and Japan, you won’t be disappointed by the quality of merchandise here. Richmond arts maven Pam Reynolds shops here on occasion, and her porcelain collection is legendary, so that’s telling you something.
14. Cold Harbor Antique Mall
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 427-7555
Address: 8147 Mechanicsville Bypass
Description: Open seven days a week in the Windmill Shopping Center in Hanover County, this place has made a name for itself since opening in 2005. With more than 70 dealers showing their wares, you’ll need some serious time to take it all in. Certainly, some of what’s here is more in the collectible category, and I don’t know what to say about the Stephen King book I saw, but there is no shortage of dealers here with antique furniture, fine art, and vintage jewelry.
15. Through The Garden Gate Antiques
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (804) 746-5778
Address: 10351 Chamberlayne Rd.
Description: Over 60 dealers jam this 20,000-square-foot place that’s attached to the sweet and feminine Through the Garden Gate gift shop. Men roll their eyes at the gift shop but can handle the antiques area. It stocks perhaps 70 percent antiques to 30 percent home decor. The owner hits up one to two auctions a week from as far afield as Maryland and Pennsylvania, besides estate sales and auctions in Virginia. They are open seven days a week.