Why Do We Love Antique Shopping So Much?

There are a lot of reasons to buy antique and vintage items. Thrift, value, and an appreciation for quality are all good reasons to get down to the antique mall. But, there are some other reasons why going treasure hunting is so fun for so many people. We get to rediscover parts of our past while learning about history in ways that can be quite surprising.

Connection

Antiques and collectibles connect you to every era no matter which year you were born. Even millennials will find things in antique shops that resonate with their childhoods. Every thrift store or vintage shop will contain items that remind us of being kid or of that first school dance. It’s unavoidable in just about shop you go to. It’s also really fun to see items that could have been yours (or your parents’) that you had forgotten about long ago.

Discovery

Finding things outside your experience is another wonderful benefit of antiquing. You never know what you will discover about the world – like when you find old tools or fashion accessories you never knew existed. It’s one thing to know that button-up boots existed, it’s another to see the button hook itself to understand how it worked.

In this way going to the antique mall can be a bit of a field trip for grown ups. It’s never too late to stop learning!

The Smell

When you’ve been antique shopping for decades the smell of a flea market or antique store alone brings back memories of hunting for treasure. It’s a comforting smell for many people who love old things. The habit of going looking for vintage and antique items, which have just about every kind of smell imaginable, gets reinforced every time and it’s not a cycle that any antique lover would willing break. It’s rather like people who love the smell of books frequenting used books stores.

Valuation

It’s really fun to see what items are priced at. You can sort of gage what something you have might be worth based on the prices in a shop. While anyone can put any asking price on an object, these in-store prices can help you to figure out if something is in demand at the moment.

Even if their prices don’t reflect the costs in all regions, they can still help you to evaluate your own collection. And isn’t it a great feeling when you find something you use everyday with a hefty price tag on it?

What are your favorite things about antique shopping? What keeps you coming back for more?