As a bit of downtime, I visited an antique store which I’ve been eyeing on my trips to and from Fort A.P. Hill, VA. The trip was just to get out of the house for a couple of hours, but what I found was an incredibly impressive antique store–probably the best I have ever seen.
Through the Garden Gate Antiques is located just North of Hanover High School on US Highway 301, in Mechanicsville, VA . It is a two story antique mall with many different types of vendors and tastes to appeal to most anyone.
I was mostly impressed with the professionalism and cleanliness of the store itself. Each booth was decorated and displayed to make it easy for the shopper to see what is for sell. There no piles–of anything. Everything had a place in every booth.
One of the best examples of this display and professionalism was the booth selling antique telephone. Yes, they were antique telephones–many from my childhood–which I find rather offensive. However, each phone was clean and cared for.
This is in such contrast to the many stores I have visited through the years. I’ve seen phones for sell before–in a box, tangled, and covered with dust. As you can probably tell for the picture, there was not a spec of dust anywhere.
Throughout the store are similar displays of care.
I spoke to the worker behind the desk and told him how nice the store was. He pleasantly acknowledged that he hears that a lot. This tells me that the store is continually is this type of shape and I would recommend anyone in the market for antiques to make a visit there.