It’s pretty obvious that Concord has a lot to offer to the general consumer. There are movie theaters, a bowling alley, a shopping mall, dozens of places to eat and drink, countless hair salons, grocery stores, clothing stores and many auto part stores.
But did you know there are also four places to find antiques?
For this antiques-related issue, we stopped by each of the places to see what they had to offer, and what sets each store apart from the other. We ended up learning a lot and discovering that all four places have pretty distinct differences.
Re-Pete’s New & Used Goods
Re-Pete’s New & Used Goods is somewhat of a hidden gem, tucked away on Manchester Street across from CitySide Grille. You’ll know you’re at the right place if you see all kinds of random large objects for sale out in front of the store.
Once you get inside, the sheer volume of merchandise can be a bit overwhelming. The first room you enter is loaded with all kinds of items from all different eras. A table up front has a collection of old lanterns, and behind them is a box of very old-looking, mostly rusted tools.
But poke around a bit more and you’ll find things like weed-whackers, car stereos, movies (on DVD and VHS), guitars, clothes, toys and more.
This is a result of the store’s buying strategy – everything for sale at Re-Pete’s was bought at a storage unit auction, the ones made famous by the show Storage Wars.
Since you never know what will be in the unit until you buy it and start going through it, you never know what you might find at Re-Petes. Sometimes it’s antique agricultural equipment, sometimes it’s a snowboard. You’ll have to drop in to see what’s up for grabs now.
Concord Antiques Gallery
Concord Antiques Gallery on Storrs Street offers two floors of antiques, vintage and collectible items – there is a difference, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
This store has more than 150 dealer spaces full of things like furniture, clothing, toys, automotive memorabilia, tools, knives, books, home decorations, glassware and more.
Basically, if it’s old, they probably have it at Concord Antiques Gallery.
Because the store is so big and there are so many shelves and display cases, one could easily spend multiple hours inside and still not see everything.
If you have a good full day to kill, we suggest devoting a good chunk of it to exploring Concord Antiques Gallery to see what you can find.
Hilltop Consignment Gallery
Hilltop Consignment Gallery on North Main Street is a surprisingly large trove of antique and vintage treasures. You wouldn’t know it by looking at it from the street, but this place has a full basement level as well as the street-level storefront, and it’s full of historically interesting items of many eras.
While not an antiques-only kind of place, there are plenty of genuine antique items here, and most things are in very good shape.
The basement is all third-party dealers – people can rent a space for a monthly fee and sell whatever they want for whatever prices they want, and they get to keep all the proceeds. Upstairs, it’s a lot of consignment items. On both floors you’ll find mostly furniture but also tableware, decorations, some clothes and even jewelry.
If you’re looking for a classic, classy piece for your living room, check out Hilltop.
Gary F. Yeaton Antiques
Gary F. Yeaton Antiques isn’t a store, but you shouldn’t count it out if you’re in the market for high-end antiques.
Gary Yeaton runs a gallery out of his garage on South Street that runs by appointment only. He also offers appraisals and does restoration work.
The business deals in investment-grade antiques, high-quality items worth thousands of dollars. Yeaton acquires his items from all sorts of places – big auctions in New York, California and Maine, the auction center on Hall Street in Concord, people’s homes, the internet.
Yeaton looks for items from the 1820s or earlier, and he likes New Hampshire-made pieces – a good portion of the items in his gallery are made here in the Granite State.
It’s not exactly for everyone – one high-boy chest he was in the process of restoring will carry a $100,000 price tag when it’s all done, but these are pieces you really won’t find anywhere else.
To set up an appointment to see the gallery or to have Yeaton come out for an appraisal, call 228-4840 or email gfyeatonantiques@comcast.net. Go to garyyeatonantiques.com for more.
