Hit the Vintage Road, Polk County

by Susan Custis, VintageFusion

The kids have been back in school.  The beach toys carefully tucked away, and the tan has long ago faded.  Fall is wonderfully upon us…yep, it’s ‘pumpkin everything’!  Now, it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then on to Christmas.  It’s all around the corner, and so much to do.  Home décor, collectibles, and gifts to find that are appropriately themed … witches, ghosts, goblins, turkeys, pumpkins, santas, angels, ornaments, and more.  The abode has to be appealing (er, scary…) for the ‘trick or treaters’, the table has to be memorably set for ‘turkey day’, and…well, where do we begin about Decking the Halls!!??!  

With the excitement on, it’s time to check the tires, tune up the engine, and put gas in the faithful ‘woodie’ to hit the vintage road for some great shopping!  Since Central Florida offers the ‘best of the best’ in vintage shopping, with Vintage Finds Magazine (aka, ‘VFM’) as your roadmap, it’s easy to check off all on the ‘to do’ list.  So, read on for this edition’s destinations.

This edition of VFM sees us exploring the great shops in Polk County.  We start at Vintage Warehouse, located at 4308 Wallace Road, Lakeland.  They are open Thursday through Saturday, from 9 to 4 and Sunday 10 to 2.  Their early hours make them a great place to start a full day of shopping.  We entered the ‘warehouse’ through the large, open cargo bay door to find 12,000 square feet where over 20 vendors create a haven, make that ‘heaven’, of pure shopping delight.  We were greeted by an exquisite array of spacious vignettes of all things vintage.  Many were staged as beautifully appointed rooms to suggest decorating ideas and many possibilities for the treasures.  Their boundless collection includes vintage, industrial, farmhouse, rustic, and more.  What makes this place particularly unique is the vast selection of large scale painted furniture pieces.

On we went to Dixieland Relics at 949 South Florida Avenue, Lakeland.  They are conveniently open 7 days a week, on Sunday & Monday from 10 to 3, then Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 5.  Here we entered into what on first appearance seemed to be a small shop full of enchanting and eclectic selection of antique and vintage merchandise.  We found jewelry to oil paintings to small furniture carefully tucked throughout the store.  But at the back of the store, we found a door that opened into a large ext