Vintage JoAnn

Since we moved into 100 W Broadway we’ve been working almost every spare minute to renovate and re-invigorate the property. Lately we’ve been working on the kitchen which is about 75% finished. Last weekend I laid most of the floor which is black & white vinyl tile. There is one small section left that has a lot of cutting and fitting involved. Instead of finishing that today we decided to go on a field trip to nearby Burning Bridges Antique Mall which we’ve heard about from a number of people.

This antique mall is located in nearby Columbia, PA and is about 25 minutes away from Vintage JoAnn. This is probably the nicest and best run antique mall we’ve ever been to.  Seriously.

When you walk in the front door there is a large coffee pot with cookies and snacks to your right. There are 3 floors and all are well lit, even the basement. The aisles are spacious. The booths are well defined and do not spill into each other or into the aisles. It is clean and well organized. There are plenty of people on each floor to help you, open display cabinets and carry your finds to the counter so you don’t have to lug them all over the place. Checkout is efficient and if you are in the trade and have a tax id number there is no hassle involved to use it. After you’ve been there once you will be in their system and it will be even easier the next time. And here’s the kicker – they are friendly and helpful.

While that all sounds simple and common sensical there are very few places we’ve been to that hit 30% of those attributes let alone all of the above.

There is something there for almost everyone. There was stained glass windows all over the place. I also noticed a lot of railroad items especially Pennsylvania Railroad. There was vintage clothing as well as glassware and furniture. There was also a fair amount of architectural pieces like doors, shutters and ornamental roof brackets.

There are a number of other antique stores within walking distance of Burning Bridges. We stopped at one other place and while worth the stop it did not compare, especially on the friendliness level.

So if you’re visiting Vintage JoAnn from out of town we highly recommend that you take the time to go to Columbia as well as the other establishments right here in Red Lion.

Filed under: Antique Stores

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