Antiques Road Show Edina

Your shopping tour down memory lane should include visits to Hunt & Gather, Loft Antiques, C.W. Smith, Victory, Mish Mash and Hopkins Antique Mall.

From the issue: June 2012

Photo: Emily J. Davis

Victory owner Kerry Ciardelli travels to Los Angeles, Europe and Morocco to acquire one-of-a-kind items that keep her shop interesting and fresh.

The summer air is warm; the brilliant flowers in bloom, and lovely antique shop displays spill out onto the sun-heated sidewalk, heralding the season and beckoning you in. Now is the perfect time for an antique excursion. And with so many of these delightful shops in our midst, there's no need to travel far. In fact, you can take advantage of this lovely weather and reach some of them on foot. So go on in, take your time, relax, peruse, stroll from one to the next; summer will be here for a while.

To help you out, we put together a guide to your Edina antiquing excursion, complete with an overview on some of those fabulous shops. Because it’s always fun to buy furniture in those shops, we highlighted a few pieces that caught our attention.

So, slip on your comfortable shoes, grab a cup of coffee for the road, and get antiquing!

Hunt & Gather (4944 Xerxes, 612.455.0250), with its 7,500 square feet of antique, vintage, kitschy, funky fun, is the perfect place to start your excursion. From the moment you pull up and spy the aqua and purple awnings, antique metal and wood chairs, and vintage signs artfully displayed along the walkway, well, you’ll know you’re in for a treat.

Step through the doors and a world of wonder awaits. Immense (and extremely cool!) three-tiered chandeliers hang from a tin ceiling and illuminate clever vignettes that boast everything from gilded sconces to furniture to silver platters to antique snowshoes to lamps to post office bins to succulent plants. With 22 dealers who offer up their unique perspectives and styles, including Industrial, Rustic, French, Retro, Folk, and Kitsch, there is something for everyone. Yes, everyone.

One entire room is devoted to H & G’s signature items: numbers and letters. Here, a whimsically-patterned floor is the quintessential accompaniment to the cardboard, plastic and metal pieces—in a plethora of colors and sizes—that dangle playfully from the ceiling, lean against walls, and stack on chairs and shelves; their miniature counterparts spill out of tiny bins here and there.

But if it’s furniture pieces you’re after, Hunt and Gather has a wealth of those, too. A few dandies that we spied on the day we visited included a French-inspired settee with black lacquered and rounded arms, claw feet and an upholstered seat in the perfect shade of buttery yellow—the perfect addition to almost any room; $350.

A tufted, brown leather Freud’s chaise lounge, offers the perfect spot to conjure bold ideas or articulate your deepest thoughts; $242.

A sweet, vintage side table with turned spindle legs is painted in the softest shades of green and cream; $110.

Hunter & Gather