Antiquing in Scotland
We quickly discovered that Scotland, particularly Glasgow, is an amazing place to buy antiques. The charity shops (thrift stores) have some brilliant items, particularly books and china. But recently, we’ve been interested in furniture and there have been so many places to look online, some without ever leaving the comfort of your living room. I’m a fan.
Now, we’ve been searching mainly for mid century furniture (more on that in another post coming up) but there are so many choices here that it’s almost overwhelming. Actually, it IS overwhelming. But here is what we’ve found.
Know what you’re looking for. Trawl Gumtree or Facebook Marketplaces for specifics. (Surprisingly, Craigslist isn’t popular here, but I’ve really grown to love Gumtree instead!) Both have that easy search bar and lots of pictures. It takes away from some of the adventure of being surprised when you pop into a shop, but it helps you find something specific, and that I love!
The antique markets. I honestly had NO idea there so many antique markets around here. Last Saturday we drove over to Raith and stopped at three massive centres along the way. We found some great antique books and the cutest little Paddington bookends for our very Paddington obsessed toddler. They’re a huge hit. Some to check out include, Scottish Antiques and Arts Centre (which has a lovely tearoom in Doune and a restaurant in Perth as well!), Glasgow City Antiques, and Rait Antiques Centre . I want to visit Edinburgh Antiques Centre sometime as well as some of the ones in Glasgow like Antiques Warehouse, Randalls’s Antiques and Vintage Centre, and C&A Antique’s Cave (they give a student discount!).
Online searching. I’ve had some wonderful luck at finding beautiful pieces here. Kean on Antiques has a Facebook page that they keep updated with some awesome finds. Mid Century Finds searches for specifically mid century items and they have a wonderful eye. Additionally, they will deliver and we found a perfect bookshelf from them and I’m just so thrilled about it! There are some great places over in Edinburgh as well, but the issue of shipping stuff across the country has me not really searching Edinburgh shops as much.
Auctions. Ok, so this I haven’t done yet. But friends of ours have and they swear by auctions. It’s a great opportunity to cut out the shops and just buy straight from the source for a reasonable amount. Once I find an auction that has what I’m looking for, I think I may try to convince Aaron we need to either go, or at least bid online for some goods.
Next time, a bit on mid century furniture. Or perhaps quotes for shipping items from Scotland to the USA. I’ll need all the help I can get, taking this stuff back with us!