Jesse James Country

The wife and I decided that we would utilize one of our weekends off together to try out some new locations.  This is a big step for her since she is not always the adventurous one in the family.  That is the reason why I usually go alone for the first trip in order to scout out the best stores.  However, even when it gets bad, she is still a trooper.

I had seen on Yelp a place in Kansas City called the Cowtown Mallroom.  It is a Sunday-only flea market that is held in the El Torreon building off of 31st and Gillham.  When I was in high school, my friends and I would go to concerts at this location, so I thought it would be interesting to see what the rest of the building looked like (especially in the light).  We had also heard good things about the selection and the prices.  So, we decided to give it a shot.  The area they have opened is quite large.  There is a downstairs with several offshoot rooms and a large, open upstairs.  There was a lot to look at there, but we did not see anything worth buying.  It was fun to see some of the different stuff, such as the vendor selling old toys from the '80s and early '90s.  I wouldn't consider them antiques, but it was still fun to see stuff from my childhood.  We did not spend a lot of time there since we were told a band starts playing later in the day, and we did not want to take part in any of that.

So, we hopped across the street and visited Bitterman's Eye Candy.  If you remember, I came up here alone before, so I thought I would share the location with the wife.  She looked around and enjoyed it while I tried to beat the high score on the pinball machine (which I did not do).  The wife did find a green blazer that she liked, and it fit so well (she claims it was made just for her) that I convinced her to buy it.

We had to make a decision.  We had to decide if we were going to wander around the metro area or head in a different direction.  We decided that we would head to St. Joseph and see what we could find up there.  So, off we went on our Sunday road trip.

The first shop we went to was W.D. Pickers Antique Mall in Platte City.  It had been several years since I had been there, and I could not remember what it was like.  The wife quickly noticed that it was a lot of glass cases (her nemesis).  However, she did admit that this one was not too bad since the glass cases were organized well.  She felt that it was easy to see every item in the cases, and it wasn't a bunch of random stuff shoved in the case.  There is a lot to look at in this store, so make plenty of time if you plan to stop.  We found several things to purchase.  She found some old bird seed boxes that had her maiden name on them.  She bought one for her mom and one for her soon-to-be-sister-in-law.  I found a Life magazine from 1966 with Adam West as Batman on the cover.  As much as we love Batman in this house, we had to buy it.  It was at a steal of a deal as well.

As we were leaving, we saw a sign for Weston.  I had always wondered what was in Weston, other than the skiing place, so we decided to make a detour.  It is a cute little town, but it feels like a tourist trap.  Here is a list of stores in the downtown area.  There is an antique store called Treasure Trove (sorry, I can't find an online presence for them).  It was fine antiques, but I noticed there were only a handful of pieces in it.  The place that really caught our eye was Sundance Photo Gallery and Mort's Classic Cameras.  There were tons of old cameras and even more old prints of photos from a Kansas City photographer.  It was a very neat place.

When we finally got to St. Joseph, we found The Rusty Chandelier and Jesse James Antique Mall.  The two locations share a parking lot, but they are independent from each other.

We went to Rusty Chandelier first.  There is a large area outside with a lot of stuff to dig through.  It feels like you are a picker, digging through someone's barn.  The wife enjoyed this and kept saying she would have to bring her sister there to dig.  The prices on the items were super cheap, but the items had been weathered from being out in the elements.  The inside was very girly, and it caught the wife's eye.  My eyes were on trying to find the next stop.  It is a good size place with lots of stuff.  There is an upstairs, which it was not very full so I am assuming they just recently expanded.  There is also a back room on the ground floor which was not done up as cute as the front area.  We did find a US map from a classroom.  The wife has been looking for one for awhile, and this one is in really good shape and at an awesome price.

We then went to Jesse James Antique Mall.  When we walked in, the wife saw glass cases and just walked by them.  I enjoy looking at the small things because you never know what you might find in there.  The place is really big.  There is the main area, and then there is a back area as well.  Both areas are full of things, so take your time and look.  The prices were reasonable, and we had a lot of fun looking.  I found a Batman glass.  I have seen them on eBay but this one was in really nice condition.

We also bought the Missouri tourist glasses that highlight some of what makes Missouri famous.  We see these out all of the time, and they are nothing special.  I like the way they look, and I love my home state.  We found them in various booths, so we could be picky about quality.

We were both hungry, but we had an hour before everything closed.  So, I made a deal with the wife that we would go to one more shop, and I would let her pick any place to eat.

The final store we went to was St. Joseph Auction & Antique Market.  We saw it when we came into town, but we were told that it was a nice one.  It is a nice place, and it is another large antique store.  It has some very different items in it.  There was some Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger memorabilia in the front of the store.  I love old television, and the old western television shows really have a draw on me.  We only found one item to buy at this store, and this is a very cool piece to us.  It is a tomato can from Odessa Canning Company.  I could not pass it up since it is from my hometown.

We found some food and headed home.  I know we missed several antique stores in the St. Joseph area, so we will have to get an early start and go back that way.

Until next time... Happy Hunting!