Steve's Antiques, Illinois, United States

1Lee D 5:00 PM Nov 16, 2018

Overpriced Junk
I had high hopes for this store as i was looking for some good items in need of a little TLC. When i opened the "blue door" it looked like an episode of American Pickers. It was a Mecca of all kinds of stuff from estate and going out of business sales. Two stories of stuff piled high and packed tight with a balcony between full of stuff. I was excited i just found the mother lode! From there it went downhill. No heat so dont go on a cold day and barely any lighting in many places so bring something like your phone flash or a flashlight. This place is filthy dirty. Much of what is in here i dont think has been moved in decades. I go to a lot of antique stores, flea markets and craft malls and this place felt disgusting and i expect it to be a little dirty. The first floor seems to give the impression that they care about their stock at least in the part you can see from the door. Once you get going you will find mostly junk from estate sales that should of been thrown in a dumpster a long time ago. They have a large amount of small stuff and piles of stuff everywhere. Furniture is spread throughout, and oddly they sell new mattresses that i would never consider sleeping on after it has been in this building. In the back is a "grand staircase" and you can see vintage tile all over the ceiling with paint flakes ( hoping not lead but probably) hanging off it. This building use to be a furniture store and before it became a dumpster i imagine it was a very nice building and would of made a lovely mall for vendors. Upstairs on the third( 2nd floor is a balcony) floor is what i really was looking for. This is where a lot the furniture was. I could hear a rat as i climbed the stairs...not a great sign. The furniture up here looks like mostly dated pieces that were new once when this was a furniture store but has been neglected and abused since. That is ok i am looking for stuff to rescue. Prices are extortionate. And most of the items are ruined. There are chairs that are rotten that were new. Furniture that is in rough shape but could be brought back Nothing is taken care of. The owner obviously doesnt care about their stuff. A loveseat that is stacked on a hutch. The roof leaked and ate through the ceiling tiles then it ate through the loveseat to the point of rusty springs. then it started to eat away at the hutch. No one bothered to fix the leak for what had to be years. I assumed prices on furniture were very negotiable since most had been on items so long the prices had fade and the stickers even lost coloring. And the items were not near the condition they were in when they entered the building. She told me that she could only do 10% off antiques and that the owner was firm on everything else. There is probably 3 or 4 semi trailer full of furniture on the third floor alone. Most pieces are marked $100-$400 range. I wouldnt pay $3000 for the entire floor. Its sad all of that furniture is just going to sit there and rot. No one is going to buy it at those prices.

1Robert A 5:00 PM Oct 30, 2017

Don't even try in cold weather - not heated.
Where to start!?! The good: huge place filling what was once a department store on three floors. Lots of furniture and collectibles. The bad: it's all in a gigantic tangled mass piled everywhere. Lots of broken pieces litter this place. Looks more like a hoard than a store. On top of this it apparently has no heat. It was 55 degrees inside when we visited Oct 30th. Hate to think what a 90 degree day would feel like. Never again.