Fall colours…cooler temperatures…and I think back to my antique business many years ago.

Whenever fall rolls around, I think back to the time I ran my antique store.

I had a small store, Highways 400 and 88, just outside of Bradford.  I ran the business from 1984-1994.

It was a good time to be in the antique business, and this time of year was the best time of all!

September-October in the antique business, was like November-December in any other retail business. I would gear up for the fall season, the same way other businesses would gear up for Christmas.

I would decorate the store with bales of hay and cornstocks….and on a kerosene heater I would keep a kettle of cinnamon sticks and cloves boiling…and people loved it!

The “cocooning” instinct kicks in when the weather gets a little cooler, and people would start thinking of antiques to fill the house.

The time I was in the antique business, was very different from the antique business today. There were no antique malls, no internet, so of course no on-line buying and selling.

People would hop in the car and go antiquing on the weekend.  Some of the old, small towns, were filled with antique shops, and could be jammed with people on the weekends.  Towns like Cookstown, Schomberg and Unionville, were the hot spots for antiques in my area.  My store was not located in any of those towns, but I was still located in “antique country”, and it was all I could do to keep up with the demand during the fall season.

Even though my store was relatively small…approx. 600 square feet of showroom, plus a 40 foot truck trailer to sell the rough pieces from, I had a very good business for those 10 years.

Recently I received a phone call from a lady who bought a harvest table from me back in the late 1980’s….she told me she still has it and still loves it!  I sold 1000’s of pieces from that store, and I often wonder how many of those pieces are still in customer’s homes?

I had to close the store when the property was sold, over 20 years ago. The antique business is very different now, and honestly, I am glad I am in the auction business.  However, when the leaves change colour, and the temps begin to drop, I still think back to that little store off the highway.

And by the way, it was called Rob’s Place.