Bill Toombs

Very disappointed and surprised at the rudeness of the owner/​manager. The place is bizarre and more like a junk shop than a viable business.
Have never given a negative review before

While the inventory is impressive, this is not a place I recommend. The owners (husband and wife) are not rude. They greet you and offer to help. However, being rude would have been preferred to their smug, condescending, and snobbish attitude. Yes, you have every right to be proud of your homes in the city, on the river, and a historic 1000 acre plantation out in east jabip but I didn’t come into your shop to hear about that. I just was looking for a special lighting fixture. Thrilling to hear that you supply lighting fixtures to movie sets. I shall anticipate seeing your name in the credits of the next period movie I watch. Why are you a snob and look down upon me? Hello, you are a lamp merchant! Nothing wrong with that– be proud of what you do and your store but don’t be a snob. I’ve bought items from you through the years but no more. I’ve had it. Don’t act like my money is beneath you as you take it from my hand.
It would not be gentlemanly of me to call the owner a liar so I will politely refer to him as a purveyor of falsehoods. There are some outstanding old lamps but obviously some reproductions from the 1940/​50s. If you can see a metal rod going through the glass font, it means that it was ALWAYS electric. Don’t give me any BS about «drilling out the glass and inserting a rod» to convert it. Also, don’t tell me that you handcraft everything, hand blow your own glass, cast your own brass, and mill your fittings. You may make some but just be honest. I find the identical items at other shops and internet (to be fair, your prices are similar). Part of the problem must be me– I need to get new glasses or a better haircut or something since it seems that my current appearance makes the owner assume that I’m a complete moron.
Go to auctions and get some incredible deals and then have the lamps converted or restored at some other place.
I hope the owners see the light (pun intended) and treat their potential customers with more humility.

Wow. Just wow.
The store is a tiny little shop, or at least seems that way thanks to the insane jumble of lamp parts within. I cannot say lamps, because the bits and bobs that clutter every surface [including the ceiling, walls, and floor] are mostly not intact or functional so far as I could tell. Some were pieces not converted from gas, some simply looked broken… one set of matched candlesticks had been left one for a candle and one converted to an electric lamp. There is nary a pricetag in sight save a few antiques tags from a different store entirely, most of which are faded almost to illegibility, meaning it’s impossible to be certain what is for sale, what is not for sale, and what is there to be repaired.
The woman on duty [I assume? No one else was in the building] greeted me once, reassured me that I could indeed have a lamp fixed if I needed [I asked] and then ignored me the entire rest of the time I spent trying desperately not to trip and go down in a jumble of metal and broken glass. The place is impossible to navigate and, frankly, doesn’t seem to be set up as if they –want– to sell anything. Certainly it isn’t designed to make buying easy. I see no point in returning.

Anything related to lighting, this is the place to go. Open Wed-​Sat, I always seemed to drive by on a Sunday, so for the longest time I had never been in here. But when I did go in, it didn’t disappoint.
The store itself is jam-​packed with chandeliers and lamps– old as well as new, cheap and pricey as hell. He’s got everything from porch lights from old houses to brand new crystal chandeliers, and the store can be a little overwhelming at first– it’s so packed that it’s hard to walk around (and you are always afraid you are going to swing an elbow and knocking over a priceless lamp) and there are so many chandeliers hanging from the ceilings that you aren’t sure whether to look up at those, at all the lamps at eye level… or to watch your feet to make sure you aren’t knocking over a smaller lamp…
However, once you get accustomed, it’s a great place to go to get ideas for your next fixture… with so many styles and choices, you could browse for hours before deciding on the right item.
Mr. Toombs does restorations and fixes as well as retail, but doesn’t sell parts… restorations aren’t cheap ($ 60 to put on a part I know costs $ 20 on the internet including shipping).
On my visit there we talked about a lamp I’m looking to rehab, and he was very nice– asked me to bring it to the shop so he could look it over, and thanked me for taking time out of my day to stop in the store. If I had the cash, I would probably bring in all my own lamps and have him restore them, but alas, I’m a broke DIYer looking for a lamp place that sells parts. Nevertheless, I enjoyed looking around in this store and will probably go back when I can afford to shop there.