Antique shopping is not something you usually associate with those under the age of forty. However if you want to buy some cool, off the cuff furniture and accessories, this is the slightly higher priced but more reliable alternative to thrift stores.
I don't mean small boutique antique stores, but large warehouses full of cool junk that can adorn your house, apartment, or person. I have two places that have never let me down. The first is in Paddington, the old abandoned theatre that everyone knows;
Paddington Antiques Centre (
167 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington QLD 4064).
Whether it's vintage ray bans, roller-shoes, or so-bad-that-they're-good lamps, this is a great place to unload some of your hard earned cash. The individual shops are a nice touch and really give a personal aspect to the enormous hall. The shelves shake with trinkets as you walk along the creaky hardwood floor, and from front to back you can lose hours. Vintage camera's, 1 litre beer mugs, and shirts your dad would wear, that you can pull off too. For nerds like me (and hopefully you), this place is perfect.
The second place is something different entirely. Located at Coolangatta, Twentieth Century Antiques & Collectibles (
33 McLean St, Coolangatta QLD 4225), captures everything beach.
Everything in this store looks like it decorated beach apartments in the seventies and eighties, and is just old enough to look cool again. It has great skateboards and a bunch of pop culture trinkets that are simply ridiculous.
I will admit, this place takes a little more patience, but the payoffs are definitely worth it. It has the greatest couch ever, it is a semi-circle that bond villains sit on overlooking a canal and their many speedboats. The couch alone is worth the trip.
Also, because it is right by the beach you can make a day of it, picnic, go swimming, drive through to Fingal Head, Brunswick Heads, or Byron Bay. This is a haven for people who enjoy unique, sometimes ironic gifts for yourself or others.
