The Antique Roadhouse

I’ve been to the Antique Roadhouse on two occasions. The first occasion being in March of 2014 I came in to see if I could find any Capodimante. At the time. e he stated no. I asked him if he refinishes antique furniture and his reply was If he were an old f&$# with nothing else better to do than he would consider it. I thought that an odd response considering I love stripping and refinishing as opposed to dipping. My second occasion was today. I was looking for a bureau for my daughter and asked if he wouldn’t mind if I browsed to see if I could find any thing. He told me I just passed a bureau on my left and then my phone rang. I said thank you and excuse me while I take a peek downstairs. It was my Daughter on the phone. I felt by his harsh tone upstairs I may have came in at a bad time. I couldn’t find anything that interested me and I thanked him on my way out the door while I was still on my phone. He yelled to me quite rudely that if I hadn’t had my phone in my face that I would have heard him tell me there was a bureau on my left. I said I heard you the first time. It is to small I don’t see anything here that she would like and his reply was What the F… are you looking for then? I’ve smelled alcohol many a time on a person to realize this is what I smelled on him. So I simply said I’m all set thank you and he told me to get the F… out of his store and I replied glad and I left. I then sat down on the public bench to continue with my daughter and that I had no luck at The Antique Roadhouse when he came outside and told me that since I was rude to him that I should get off the bench and sit in from of somebody else’s store. The man was clearly drunk in my opinion and there were young children with their moms walking all about so I didn’t want to cause a scene and told him it would be my pleasure and for him to have a nice day. As I was walking he had uses off color words to me again and this time in front of a young child. I hope this guy gets some help he certainly needs it. Stay away from 700 Washington St The Antique Roadhouse. This guy is no good and from what I hear he is a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And possibly an alcoholic if he is allegedly drinking on the job. Not even one star for this place as well as the proprietor.

Update: I have received messages from a few other people who experienced the same issue. Clients continue to lose their assets in this scam. They are taking legal action and found that there is already significant legal action pending for lack of payment on sold consigned property. Beware.
Warning: Scam artist
Be advised: The owner of this business is operates a known and ongoing scam and is in violation of fiduciary duty. Do not consign your property with this business as it will be seized and liquidated.
The business model preys its own clients, especially the elderly. By consigning your items and signing the contract you are forfeiting your personal effects.
I consigned a set of 4 Baker chairs retailing for $ 10,000 and the owner held them in the back of the store for six months until my contract period elapsed. The owner immediately collected payment a day after the contract expired, when my furniture became his property.
I had maintained contact with him via email and he is falsely sincere and generous — Do not trust this company. Fool me once, shame on you. Do not get tricked into donating your precious property to this crook.

I read the reviews by some others in surprise. I have been dealing with Andrew for several months and have been consistently treated with complete professionalism, knowledge of his products and wit. Not to mention great prices and unique merchandise. If I had read the reviews before I bought my sofa, I probably would not have bought from him and missed out on what I consider my best all time purchase. I will not hesitate to deal with Andrew and the Antiques Roadhouse again.
Maybe this is a situation that one needs to make up your own mind before you pass them by. You may miss out on a deal of a lifetime.

Like all antique and thrift stores, it’s often hit or miss. I’ve been here before while visiting and saw items I liked, but since I live a few thousand miles away, they wouldn’t have fit in my luggage.
Just came in here this past week with my husband and we found a old portable tube radio and a sweet little carriage clock. Perfect for taking back home.
I’ve never had a bad visit. He does know a lot about his items, and gave us some info and pointers about the inside workings of the radio.
Anyhow, there were a lot of great items of all kinds. I do like poking around this place, the owner definitely puts a some humor in some of his items.

Wanted to like this place. But it was dark and dingy and the overall quality was low. And a lot of the stuff appeared to be broken or missing pieces.

I contacted the owner, Andrew to purchase a dining room table he had posted on Craigslist, we had an agreement and then the day I was to pay him for the table he emailed me and said he had the flu and to give him a few days. My response was, sorry you are sick, call me when you are back to work and I will give you my credit card number and make delivery arrangements. I didn’t hear back from him for several days. I left two more messages on his voicemail, no response. On Easter Sunday he sends an email to me telling me he sold the table to someone else on Friday. What a despicable, unprofessional thing to do. I had already agreed to buy the table and he sold it right out from under me.
Only dishonest people do something like that. We had a verbal agreement and it wasn’t my fault he was sick, or was he???
Don’t waste your time with this business, very underhanded!!!

UPDATE!
The owner of this shop will not stop harassing me and sending me vulgar language via Unilocal message.
This tells you what kind of loser this person is… Would you give someone like this your business? I wouldn’t…
PS I already file a complain to Unilocal for his inappropriate behavior.
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I wish I looked up the reviews before I came here today with my husband.
We saw an antique desk on Craigslist that we liked, I emailed them, no respond — ok, we’ll stop by then since we recently bought a house and I’m looking for some antique furniture to spice up the look.
Well…like the other reviewer mention, look up the word «Obnoxious» in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of the owner here.
We walked in… no greeting. We saw the desk that we like, and I just simple said «The desk look a bit smaller than we thought» — The owner quickly said «Well, dimension is on the website» — I DID look at the dimension and it is NOT an executive desk size and inches that you posted, it’s a child size table. (I didn’t say any of these… I just ignore him.)
My husband then grab a near by chair to test with the desk, the obnoxious owner made more obnoxious comments «You can’t just grab a chair and try it with the desk… You are like grabbing a wheel and expect it to fit on any car».
So, I finally said «Do you have a custom chair that goes with this desk then?» he said no then shut up.
This dude doesn’t want our business… he was busy surfing on
…he doesn’t want to greet people, help customer or get some businesses.
Lastly…this shop doesn’t have much antique… They are mostly used and old furniture in bad conditions. You will find better things in Good Will then this place.
I hope this shop will be fold soon… this place is wasting a space on Washington Street…

The owner of this store is is out of his mind. If you look up the word «obnoxious» in the dictionary, his picture is next to it. This guy is angry at the world.
As to his merchandise, most of the things are not antiques. It’s mostly used furniture that’s been poorly refinished.

I am shocked at the reviews on this business, as this wasn’t my experience at all. I saw a piece of furniture listed on craigslist and contacted the Antique Roadhouse to inquire about it. I spoke with Mr. Himmel, we came to an understanding on the piece and I purchased the piece. As a matter of fact it was so easy to deal with him that to combine shipping I purchased another dresser from him to make the shipping more economical. The pieces arrived this morning and are as advertised and quite lovely. I would definitely do business with him again.

The rudest most condescending business owner I have ever met. I was with 3 other people who went in to browse before we had dinner at Byblos down the street. He was in the back room working on a piece of furniture, never came out to greet us. A person in our party asked him a simple question about a piece of pottery that they owned. The owner went on a tirade. We were all shocked at his reaction to the simple question. We will never step in that store again. Thank goodness he deals with antiques. When his inventory gets old because of his attitude and rudeness with the public, it won’t make a difference!

Wow, if I only had looked at the reviews before I went in this store, I would have never wasted My Time, this guy– owner has to be the Rudest person, Rude, Yes, talks down to you, Yes. No wonder the store is empty. He must miss out on so many Gems, What a EGO. It’s more important for him to talk over you, then to take a moment to Listen and Learn. So many shops, Endicott st, in norwood. Friendly people.

«Portrait of Arrogance» is written on a subpar portrait for sale in this shop. i believe it is a portrait of the owner, Andrew Himmel (he was foolish enough to give me a card!) !! Do not give this arrogant a** the opportunity to insult you!!! He does not hesitate to assume you do not know ANYTHING, and has no problem bashing other dealers. He knocked where i live, where i had just been perusing, everything. He didn’t realize he was talking to a buyer with a much better eye than his. Mid-​quality antiques at high prices. Never, never bother.
** Update: this morning (⁸⁄₁₀) he tried to deflect my review on a local website from this past WINTER by calling my assessment of him and his business «sour grapes of a competitor». I am a photographer. I have never been an antiques biz owner, nor am I now. He threw a little tantrum in his reply, and said I was using «Jr. High tricks in the adult business world». Sorry, but online reviews are the way of the world. If you don’t like what you see about yourself, it is time to make some serious changes.
Again, never, ever bother with this shop.

I am SO happy I ignored the negative reviews on here! I found The Antique Roadhouse via a posting on Craigslist. They were selling a gorgeous French brass fender with ornate Chenets that I had to have! After reading the Unilocal reviews, I was nervous to call The Antique Roadhouse on the phone, especially since I was going to ask if they would accept a lower price for the fender. To my surprise, the owner was really nice! He told me the lowest price he could accept and, luckily for me, it was within my budget! From there my experience was nothing but great. I mailed them a check and they promptly shipped the fender, and they even had it professionally packed for no extra charge. If you see something on their website or in their store that you want, don’t be shy about approaching them. Had I listened to the other reviewers, I would have passed up a great find. My advice is to check them out and form your own opinion.

This place has no concept of customer service!
I stopped by here on a Saturday afternoon with my husband and parents. As we entered the store, my father noticed an Erector set displayed in the front window. While he checked the set out, my mother held the door open for him to follow us into the store. The door was held open for less than 30 seconds. The owner, who was standing behind the register and on the phone, yelled at us to «Shut the door!» His tone was nothing but rude and condescending — he couldn’t care less that we were customers who could potentially drop some serious cash in his store. I’m assuming he was on a personal call as I can’t imagine that a business owner would be rude to people in his store AND a customer over the phone. Since he was more concerned about saving the 2 cents on air conditioning that drifted out of an open door, we walked right out. After reading the other reviews discussing this man’s attitude, I now understand why the same stuff is displayed every day outside his shop — no one wants to buy from a jerk!
Instead of patronizing this guy’s place, I highly recommend walking a half block to ReMARKable Antiques. The staff, including the owner, are always super nice and appreciative of anyone coming in their store to browse.

It’s been a little over a year that I drove approx one hour to this location to view I desk I had first seen on Craig’s list. I had a particular spot in mind and although the measurements were listed on line I wanted to verify the measurements for my own piece of mind as the legs flared our a bit I needed to be certain the measurements were exact. I hadn’t realized the legs were not straight from the picture and asked if the had a tape measure. I believe it was the owner who went right into an argument. I realized the measurements were on line. It was painful dealing with this man and his condescending tone. I imagine the Queen of England must frequent his shop as it seems the common man is treated as a mere annoyance.
I left feeling annoyed and that I had wasted two hours driving to Norwood and leaving empty handed as I certainly wasn’t going to purchase anything from that owner. HIs approach and lack of any acknowledgment when you enter the store was a huge turn off.
Perhaps removing that huge chip on your shoulder before you deal with customers may actually help your business.

I always enjoy poking around the roadhouse, sometimes find some great stuff downstairs. Interesting and eclectic grouping of items.

RUDE owner. Very condescending and acts like talking to customers is a burden. When my friend asked if he bought China he said no, and that he doesn’t buy it for the exact reason that she was getting rid of it– because it was crap that no one wants. Without hearing anything else about the China she had or why she was wanting to sell it. She mentioned another store that sold a lot of China, and he told her that soon it was going to be out of business if they kept taking such garbage. This guy is just an asshole, even if he had good stuff I wouldn’t give him my business.

Was working in the neighborhood one day and decided to take a look inside this place to see if there was anything nice to look at. The only people in the store were the owner and one woman trying to talk to him about something she was interested in selling. I wasn’t even acknowledged but I think it was for the best. This guy was so rude and condescending to this woman I was having a hard time holding my tongue. This guy takes asshole to a whole new level. What kind of business owner treats people so poorly? It was just uncomfortable being around this guy.
I truly hope he ends up out of business and homeless!

OK so I found this little store about a year an half ago on Craig’s list. I drove there on a Sunday and I didn’t meet the owner, If i had I WOULD NOT GO BACK. I called and spoke to the owner 3 times today asking about an eastlake table he was selling for $ 575.00. Knowing it wouldn’t fit in the Mercedes I brought the truck. The owner of this business was Very short mannered toward me when I walked in the door with a friend 15 mins prior to closing. When I walked in the store I told him who I was and his response was its downstairs go take a look he snapped. So I went looked and decided I wanted to buy it. When I had spoken to him on the phone I mentioned I had a gate leg table I was interested in selling or putting on consignment. After I told him I wanted to buy the table and that I did bring the other one for him to see she started yammering on about his personal events and having to be somewhere at 730. I told him the truck was parked on the side street around the corner from him store. He walks over to the truck and starts ranting about this is not typically how he does business, the tone of his voice is raising with out any ration or reason.
I was understanding to the fact that he had plans. If he had not given me such a FLAMBOYANT ATTITUDE!!! I would of offered to pay in full and return for pick up. So this is how returning customers are treated here! YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED!!! I have worked in commission based sales for over 13 years and I have a large client list, people listen to what I say and trust my words. I advise this owner: «Word of mouth is the best advertisement… you should wonder what other words will pass from mine.» (about my visit to your store).

Nope! No thanks! I’ll give you two clues:
1. starts with a D
2. ends in –bag
After sitting traffic for almost 2 hours to try to get here before they close, we finally made it with about 15 mins to spare. As we walked in the person there was ok, but pretty angry that he had customers 15 mins before he was closing (ok understandable kind of). We had a piece of furniture and cash, ready to drop $ 600 and bring the hunk o junk home that we were interested in. As far as I am concerned any trade ins were discussed over the phone, we didn’t care how much he would give us for our trade in, just take the damn thing.
Nope! Heres where the temper tantrum started about how its our fault that we are late, we should never have come that late (then close earlier), its not fair to him (ok cuz we are paying $ 600 for something?) and that he has other stuff to do. I just don’t understand businesses and their lack of common sense skills these days.
So next time you have customers who tell you they are dropping $ 600 on a piece of furniture, try not to be so rude to your customers and maybe take the sale and earn a little money.
K thanks and never again!