May I take this opportunity to thank all our loyal customers who keep returning to our little shop. It is very difficult to remain in business these days with the cost of everything going up – rent, power, insurance, all increasing. This is why there are very few independent antique shops still trading. We only keep going by taking out less than the minimum wage – thank God I’m retired!
I am not moaning because I enjoy every day at ‘work’ which is my hobby really. I love speaking to people and spend many happy hours chatting and reminiscing about the past. I rely on people bringing in their unwanted items to sell and get pleasure from recycling something that is no longer useful to someone but can be the pride and joy to the next owner. I have as customers, collectors of all sorts of different objects. Old postcards, medals, coins, toys, watches etc. etc. What gives me the most pleasure are young collectors. You would be surprised at how many 9-15yr olds collect coins and medals. I always try to help fill their collections but never seem to get much profit when they bring out their pocket money to scrape together four or five pounds to buy something!
I recently wrote about the VE Day celebrations and was contacted by a local club. I was able to lend them lots of items from the war including uniforms, helmets etc. As a novelty, I donated lots of old pennies, halfpennies, sixpences, shillings etc. They were left in piles on the tables, and they could pretend to pay for drinks in old money. Did you know you could get a pint of beer for 6D in 1945? A loaf of bread was 4 pence halfpenny, a pint of milk 21/2D and 5lb of potatoes for 6D. A typical weekly grocery shop was 45D. The D stands for pennies. The average weekly wages for industrial workers was £4.16shillings and most people only just made ends meet but lived a happy lifestyle.
If you are having a clear out, please bring your things to the shop or give me a call for a home visit – there is no obligation to accept my offer, but a cup of tea is obligatory!
Please see advert below for contact details and opening times.
