Lou’s Antique Mall

I visited Lou’s Antique Mall in mid-​September in route to Eden, NC for a relative’s birthday. I would like to give this antique mall a higher rating because the people on staff when I visited were very friendly. But the quality of this place’s goods in general left a lot to be desired. I felt a lot of it was garage-​sale or flea-​market-​type quality with relatively few things that really seemed old or interesting.
Plus, to make matters worse the prices seemed way too high. I have been collecting a certain type of animal-​related collectible for 20 years now for which I’ve conducted searches in dozens of antique malls and shops. I saw one item at Lou’s that I’ve seen many times before and never even had any desire to own because it’s relatively common. Right now, there are probably 3 – 4 on eBay for sale under $ 18. And the one at Lou’s was priced at $ 29 — at least twice as high as it should have been, given the condition.
I had also stopped at Lou’s location in Amherst and bought a mechanical bank that I’d hoped was truly old (I’m not too knowledgeable about these) but it turned out to be a definite reproduction. That’s ok — it’s still a «fun» piece but, again, the price, while not outrageous, could have been better.
All in all, I have to say that all of the antique malls at which I stopped on this trip down Route 29 in Virginia were generally a disappointment, not just Lou’s Antique Mall. The quality isn’t as high as what I’ve found in Richmond/​Fredericksburg, as well as Maryland and Pennsylvania Dutch Country. There’s just too much stuff that’s essentially junk and not nearly enough truly vintage items and legitimate antiques.

Having grown up with an Antique dealer grandmother, not only have I been exposed to the business but I often helped her both purchase and sell items at shows. I love history and old items so I was THRILLED when Lou’s opened up in Danville. I have taken nearly all of my out of town guests there and spent thousands on mostly small items. I have purchased gifts, items for myself and even items for my recent wedding.
One reason we enjoy Lou’s is that you can bargain for a better price. In fact, I rarely have paid the full asking price and Lou himself has even offered a discount when I didn’t even suggest it. We have purchased $ 125 items for $ 50, $ 40 items for $ 25 and so on. We went to shop there on Saturday because my mother was in town and she asked to go to Lou’s. After looking for over an hour we went to one booth that we were told by Lou himself maybe 6 months ago, was trying to liquidate because the owner had died and the family didn’t want to keep the booth open.
At that time, my mother purchased a handful of items from this booth, including something marked $ 20 that Lou let her have for a dollar – 95% off the asking price. I have watched various items in this booth overtime and decided to make an offer on 4 items, two of which had been damaged since they sat in the booth and another was a rug that was getting worn because it was laid out. My step brother offered to see if would be willing to deal to get the damaged items sold so I could keep shopping for my new home.
About 10 minutes later I hear Lou yelling, «Where is that smart@ss kid» from at least 100 feet away. He got louder from there on and proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs right in my step brother’s face, saying that he was trying to take advantage of a death and they were not going to give things away. I have never seen anyone in sales be this rude to a customer and I have worked in retail all my life. I was prepared to spend over a thousand dollars on damaged items that had sat there for at least a year as they became more damaged.
Everyone handles things differently but I fail to see the reason Lou got so upset at our offer that he nearly punched my step brother and certainly both verbally abused him and embarrassed him in front other customers. The fact there was a death came from Lou directly as why he was willing to deal on that booth’s items so much the past times. My offer was no where near 95% off and was merely a starting bid as I expected to go back’n’forth as you do when bargaining.
When we went downstairs to leave, it was clear that the staff downstairs had been discussing our bids (likely in front of downstairs customers) and glared at us.
Based on this treatment no-​one I know will go back to Lou’s and ever support someone who takes his frustration out on a customer. That is never acceptable and it was so bad the police where almost involved to protect my step brother. No one ever deserves that type of service.
Understand when you shop at Lou’s, you never know what the staff will do or how they will choose to treat you. I, sadly, recommend you take your business elsewhere.

What’s better than finding a great antique store? I’ll tell you … it’s finding a great antique store when you thought there was absolutely no hope of finding one. I found myself in Danville, Virginia on Jan. 1, and I figured that nothing — least of all a good antique store — would be open.
How wrong I was. I doddled in Lou’s Antique Mall for over an hour, agog at his collection. This is one of the few places I’ve found with a real selection of furniture ranging from primitives to Empire, Victorian to Art Deco. Of course, every antique store is a crap-​shoot and you may go in there and find nothing … but I had no trouble picking out a half-​dozen pieces that I’d happily have in my home.
The proprietors were friendly and eager to help.
This place is definitely on my «to visit» A-​list!