Antique Mall Etiquette

[Vintage Touch]

Hello everyone...I'm an antique dealer that sells antiques as one of many dealers in a large antique mall. The reason for my blog is not to be unkind or critical but to try to educate shoppers to respect the various dealers and realize that all the stuff in these shops, is not owned by one person. I would like to respectfully request that shoppers have the consideration to not pick up pieces from one booth and lay them down in a booth belonging to someone else. I realize you may select a piece that you want to purchase and forget where you found it, if you change your mind about purchasing it. Please, if this happens, take the piece to the front desk and ask them to put the item back in the booth where it belongs. They know the codes and they can locate the correct booth and return the piece that you do not want. This would make life so much easier for antique dealers and save them from having to try to locate the missing item, or worse yet, take it as a loss because it cannot be found. All this adds to their cost which we all understand causes the dealer to be unable to give better prices because they have to make a profit or they cannot stay in business. So could I please ask everyone to help educate shoppers in antique malls, by letting them know that it is a real problem when they remove pieces from one booth and lay them down in another one? And please for anyone tempted to slip an item in their pocket....remember there are security cameras now in most shops, and the risk of being prosecuted for shop lifting is just not worth it! Thank you for listening and for your help!

[Les Beyer]

This post would be a great addition to the Antiquing Basics 101 Group. Would you consider doing that? You could just cut & paste it into a new discussion... or I could do it for you, giving you full credit of course.