A treasure trove at Highland Row Antiques Basement Market

The monthly sale is a favorite source for designers, collectors, and film scouts
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Photograph by Holly Renfro Keyes

If you arrive at Highland Row Antiques before 10 a.m. on the first Saturday of most months, you’ll find a line inside the tiny storefront, full of hipsters sipping coffee and young parents holding small toddlers by the hand. All are patiently waiting for entry to the sprawling lower level and parking lot, where the shop’s vendors set up for the monthly Basement Market, which combines the store’s regular merchandise with one-day-only treasures.

For decorators, vintage furniture collectors, or scouts for TV and movie sets, it’s an appointment to keep each month. Earlier this year, we spotted 1950s Danish-modern book cases, signs scavenged from abandoned motels, vinyl dinette sets, a pair of mermaid lamps, and vintage theater seats. Don’t hesitate to haggle—the dealers, who mill around during the sale, expect it.

If you want a chance at the midcentury living room sets or other larger items, go early. But if you’re just looking to peruse kitschy tourist souvenirs, novelty lamps, nostalgic lunch boxes, children’s furniture, or vintage clothing, you can show up anytime.

Highland Row holds its first Saturday sales 10 months a year. (Owner Angela Carbon typically skips holiday months.) As one dealer puts it, the brief hiatus allows more time to find the goodies that will go on sale the following month. The next market is on Saturday, May 2. The store opens at 10 a.m. and closes by 7 p.m. at earliest on market days.

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