Best (affordable) Antique Shopping around ATL (Atlanta, Columbus: sales, home, living)

[Serabit]

Hi,

I've been checking out many of the antique stores in the area (Downtown ATL all the way to Ellijay) and the shops with reasonable prices (as well as true antique items) seem to be very few. We're ready to drive farther out in hopes to find the true gems, but no idea of which direction to head towards.

Does anyone have any recommendations on decent shops we should check out? Thinking of maybe driving towards Dalton/Rome? or Monroe? or maybe even crossing over to the northern states?

Just for clarity purposes, when I say affordable I'm hoping for an old oil can at ~$5-$6 rather than the $16+ many shops seems to be charging. TIA

[Iconographer]

For starters...

Chamblee's Antique Row District

A longtime acquaintance of mine (who also happens to be an experienced estate dealer and antiquarian) suggested that I focus my 'antiquing' in Georgia on the mid-tier cities and smaller communities in general, as the market for home furnishings in metro Atlanta has quietly evolved away from 'traditional' to 'modern' (largely due to changing tastes among the younger urbanites). Add to that the fact of increasingly prohibitive rents in a traditionally tight-margined retail market.
He saw the writing on the wall some years ago and sold his antiques business in Avondale Estates in favor of relocation to a smaller community about an hour and a half SW of Atlanta. He says that the majority of his repeat patronage (which has been thriving) has come from the Columbus and Macon areas, not 'The ATL'.

In addition, just about every (often struggling) Georgia community I know seems to have some form of 'antique mall'. Here's one I like in Toccoa:

https://www.toccoaantiques.com/

Another community I really enjoy shopping:

https://visitlagrange.com/antiques-a...range-georgia/

[pinetreelover]

If you are up for a little drive, check out Culpepper's Antiques in Otto, NC. It's just across the GA/NC border and has tons of antiques that you don't see other places. They focus on architectural pieces, marine and industrial salvage and other unique items. I don't think they have a website, but they do have a facebook page. It's worth the drive (and a pretty drive at that!).

[aus10]

I always had the best luck at the one just north of Walmart in Jasper on 515. There is also an awesome antique mall in Hiawassee (about 1/2 a block from McDonalds), and nice neat place on the Main Drag of Murphy, N.C. If you want a huge size one.... right off I-75 just south of Chattanooga. Sorry I can't remember name... it is an old shopping center that they turned the whole thing into an antique place.....

[TheKiwi]

I shop for a living (set decorator in the film industry). There really aren't "affordable" antiques anymore. With the internet being what it is, and how common online sales are allowing people to search for specific things from anywhere in the world, if people have anything of value, they try to make the most money they can on it. Even thrift stores have become very expensive in the past few years.

If you haven't checked out these yet, add them to your list: Motherlode, Decatur Estates, Queen of Hearts (there are multiple locations) and Chamblee Antique Row. They are on the more affordable side, I'd say. At least not price gouging to the extreme that I've seen at some other places.