If you are a thrift shopper, you will travel far and wide to find all things nostalgic, collectible, or just plain odd. Re-Runs Thrift Store in Hellertown, PA has a bit of all of that mixed together. Customers should expect to find cheap items for their household, including books, movies (VHS! Remember those?), music (in many formats), plates, pots and pans, furniture, knick-knacks and toys. On top of that, they have a decent sized collection of used clothing, all for one dollar. Of course, as with any thrift store, selection will vary from day to day. If you are from the area, you know that many of the thrift stores belong to chains, or are connected to organizations. Re-Runs is totally independent from all of other chains and the experience you get when visiting a small, independent store is totally different than one you get at a “Goodwill” or something similar. As an independent store, it is a for-profit business. Donations of furniture, kitchen items, books, and music can be made if you want to get rid of them, and pick-ups can even be arranged with the owners. But since this is a small business, do not expect to get paid for your items. Be sure to visit re-runs if you are in the area. Who knows what you may find! To find other great thrift stores, visit globalYP.net, an online directory.

Anntiques in Bemidji, MN maintains its original hardwood floors and pressed metal ceilings. Now, the building holds a wide variety of antiques and collectibles, all well organized. The store is very easy to browse through and shop. It is endlessly fascinating! Glass showcases hold collections of jewelry, silver spoons, buttons, and bric-a-brac. The glassware section glitters from across the room, and the merchandise is arranged according to color, creating a stunning visual effect. Anntiques is a place to buy copper ware, vintage teapots, fine china, porcelain, and linens. It is a place to shop for gifts in all price ranges, from an old postcard to a wardrobe or rocking chair. Their collection of sheet music is worth browsing through. Now and then, their book section offers a genuine treasure. If you see potential in a piece of furniture that needs a bit of refurbishing, their bargain room is for you. Anntiques provides a cradle filled with small toys for shoppers with toddlers, and a rack of brochures from other antique and collectible stores by the front entrance. It is obvious to anyone who steps inside this establishment that it is maintained with love and respect for history! To discover more places like this, visit globalYP.net, an online directory.

Anne Tiques is one of my favorite places to go shopping in Tuscaloosa, AL. Miss Anne keeps an interesting inventory of antiques, furniture, vintage goods, consignment items, and Alabama memorabilia (Roll Tide!). If you need a quick accessory for an outfit, she has a large selection of vintage and costume jewelry to peruse. Also, Miss Anne has a large selection of resale children’s clothing and toys for very low prices. Her prices are very reasonable, and her inventory is always changing. Miss Anne likes to talk to all her customers, and often I’ll tell her what I’m looking for (even vague things, like “something kind of organic that I can put on a wooden shelf by my plants…”) and she’ll know exactly what I’m looking for. In any given visit, I might browse through Depression glass compotes, current fiction and romance books, or vintage Pyrex bake dishes. I have bought several pieces of framed artwork for decorating my apartment, furniture, Alabama dishes, necklaces, and antique cast iron dishes for my dad. Not to mention some great vintage gifts for my very picky friends. Anne Tiques is a great place to shop, too, if you are new to Tuscaloosa and need some accents for a new dorm room or apartment. The affordable prices make it a must-stop for someone shopping on a budget or looking for a fun little item without the splurge costs. To find more great deals in your area, visit globaYP.net,a  local online directory.

Elements is a wonderful consignment shop located in historic downtown Owosso, MI at 117 W Exchange St. Owned and operated by Lorie White, this wonderful family business buys, sells and trades tons of cool things – ranging from antiques, jewelry, art, clothing, movies, music and more! I even managed to snag an original Michael Jackson record from the 80’s just a few months before his death, ironically. This is a wonderful family store and has tons of potential gifts that would be perfect for someone you know, if not many people. Elements is located smack dab in the middle of downtown Owosso, so it is fairly easy getting there and no hassle at all to walk on a nice day. Among consignment, Elements offers other special activities on a weekly basis, including yoga, meditation and book readings. Having personally attended several of these, I can recommend them to you with confidence. If you’re ever visiting from out of town, this store is quite the catch and would be wonderful to visit. There’s also a close-knit sense of community around here, so you’re bound to thoroughly enjoy yourself. So make sure to stop in the next time you’re in the mid-Michigan region and say hello to Lorie and friends! Make sure to stop by globalYP.net, an online directory, the next time you need to find something in the phonebook.

Strictly Country Antique Mall is a little out of the way, but is definitely worth the trip! Located in an old barn across from the Historic Octagon House, this quaint shop has something for everyone. The merchandise is an eclectic mix of beautiful old antiques and brand new items with a primitive feeling. Rather than horses and chickens, this barn is filled with wonderful rooms that contain beautiful stationary, gorgeous antique furniture, and whimsical Annie dolls waiting to be adopted. This antique store also contains a design center with everything you will need to give your own home that “country farmhouse” feel. From the unique plaid curtains to primitive shower curtain rings and affordable penny rugs all you need to make your home perfect can be found in here. Upstairs boasts a large Christmas decorating section with everything from rag garland to handmade ornaments to make your tree beautiful and unique. As soon as you walk in the door you will feel at home in this warm and cozy shop. The owner, her daughters, and sometimes even the granddaughters can always be found behind the counter to welcome visitors and take time to get to know everyone that comes through their door. If you are ever over their way you should make a special effort to walk through the door of Strictly Country Antique Mall. Using globalYP.net, online yellow pages, takes hardly any effort at all.

One of my favorite places to go is the Bay Antique Center in Bay City, Michigan. You step in the doors and you are immediately transformed into another time and place. It has over 60,000 square feet of antiques and treasures. There is a main floor, a basement and an upstairs. It is always amazing just to go in and look at the actual building and try to imagine the history and secrets that just the walls, ceiling and floors hold. There is much of the original architecture left. When we go we plan to spend at least 3 hours and even then we still cannot see everything. There are over 100 dealers that you can purchase from and then there is the owner of the store that has many items as well. Every time I go in there, which is at least once a month, it seems like I never see the same thing twice! We walk through the aisles and remember many things from our childhood. It is fun to see how people lived in the earlier days and try to imagine what some of the people looked like or how they lived through just the items collected. If you are at all interested in nostalgia then this is the place to go. I never tire of walking the floors there and dreaming about the past. Tired of the phonebook? Start using globalYP.net, online yellow pages, instead.

I’m not a huge fan of antiques, but I do like the thrill of hunting for a good bargain, and shopping around for unique gifts. When you see the sign that says “Doofnac Xemi”, you are not quite sure what to think of this bizarre looking storefront. Bonus points if you can guess what “Doofnac Xemi” stands for. The actual name of the store, however, is Things Antiques - and many things it has. The store itself is average size for an antique store, but it is jam packed full of interesting finds. Whether you are looking for traditional antiques such as lamps, furniture, etc, or more eclectic foreign items, you can find them here. If you have friends or family who are difficult to shop for, and you are looking for that perfect unique gift, you can’t go wrong with something you find at Things Antiques. Plus, you’ll have a story to go along with the gift. The store itself is located along the historic US Route 66, and it seems like a family run business.  Don’t miss an opportunity to check out a piece of our U.S history. According to the store’s website, Paul McCartney visited the store, and it was his favorite stop along his entire tour of Route 66. Still can’t figure out what “Doofnac Xemi” means? It’s an anagram for what was originally sold in the building: Mexican Food. To find more great places in your area, visit globalYP.net, a local online directly.

My wife and I like to visit various little towns to get a sense of history and culture of each place. One of our preferred pastimes is visiting antique malls for unique finds. Our favorite mall when traveling turned out to be the Broadway Antique Mall in Abilene, KS. Abilene has four or five such malls. But this one, located in the downtown area, was the most intriguing. The store is run by a very friendly couple and their granddaughter. We found all kinds of antiques, ranging from furniture to coins and stamps, to sports cards and postcards. The place is uniquely large for the typical antique retailer, with three floors and a balcony. To add to our delight, we were invited to have lunch on the balcony while shopping. The aisles were wide and the floors very clean, which is unusual for a lot of antique malls. My wife purchased some Fenton glass and I decided on some turn-of-the-century postcards with patriotic themes. The couple running the mall was very helpful and we were shown items that we were interested in without being rushed at all. My wife and I plan on returning to the Broadway Antique Mall to browse for another pleasant afternoon during our trip! To uncover more unique retailers, visit globalYP.net, an online directory.

The Book Revue in Huntington has the charm of a cozy little book store with the convenience of two floors of wall-to-wall books. It is located just off of Main Street and from the outside has an inviting appearance. Once you step inside you are taken aback by the vast amount of books that are within this store. Among the new authors and reprints on the shelves are used and antique books. It’s great to be able to choose a more affordable copy of a book, and I absolutely love seeing books form the 19th century lining the shelves. There are several speakers who appear each month to do readings of their books and to open up discussion on important topics. The Book Revue e-mail list will update you regularly on the happenings in the store- and I can assure anyone that there will be at least one name that pops out and peaks your interest in attending the talk. A café is located on the second floor at which you can sit down and enjoy a read. There is a great selection of coffees, drinks, and pastries to choose from. Border’s and Barnes and Noble are great in their convenience, but their selection, atmosphere, and customer service come nowhere close to matching up what the Book Revue has to offer. The workers are a mix of young college kids and older people and it is obvious that all of them enjoy doing what they’re doing. They are all avid readers and will be happy to recommend a good read to you. You’ll be happy to find more great places like the Book Review using globalYP.net, an online directory.

If you have ever lived in the Philadelphia area or visited it, you are sure to know about its rich history: Ben Franklin, the Declaration of Independence, the first zoo in the United States as well as the first waterworks (the Fairmount Water Works) located on Schuylkill River just behind the Art Museum (one of the largest in the nation). And everyone knows about Philly cheese steaks and pretzels. But ask a Philadelphian about the Rosenbach Museum & Library and you are sure to get more dumbfounded looks than a NY Mets fan at a Phillies game. I’ve been in and out of the city for over 30 years until I came upon this little gem of a 19th century townhouse innocuously intermingled within the dwellings in Rittenhouse Square section of Philadelphia. I assumed this would be just another house – like several other historic sites in Philadelphia – that has some notable personages that occupied this place at some time that had some relevance to American freedom. I was never glad to be so wrong while still learning so much about Philadelphia. I realized this, of course, by the excellent guide who walked us through the three storied home with eloquent recounting of the various possessions of the two brothers that founded the eponymously named dwelling that houses over 30,000 rare books and other antiquities. While historians will revel in being able to, upon appointment, actually thumb through original manuscripts and books older than 500 years – original first edition works of James Joyce, Lewis Carroll, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens; ancient bibles; a serpentine clock of Marie Antoinette’s – the real treasure is learning about the interconnectedness of the Rosenbach brothers to the roots of Philadelphians of yesterday and today. Anyone who had family that grew up within West Philadelphia within the last 100 years could find even a more direct connection as well. Regardless, a very well informed and engaging staff brought life to a quiet repository of some of the most well kept and oldest known writings. Find more hidden treasures using globalYP.net, a searchable online directory.