Antiques in Cloverdale

Back in the 1980's and into the 1990's Cloverdale was well known as the place to go for antique shopping. Indeed, it seemed like every second store along 176th Street was home to an antique store of sorts and became the unofficial antique capital of British Columbia. Other stores on the main street tried to capitalize on the fame and threw in a few antiques in their shops in addition to the other wares they sold in their shops.

Many of the antique merchants leased the stores on Cloverdale's main street. Crowds of people would show up to stroll up and down 176th Street and go in and out of each antique shop in search of the perfect addition for the house. Unique treasures. Little trinkets or perhaps a plate like the one you used to have in the house growing up. I even saw Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy books being sold for $5 apiece. My mother gave away my collection after I entered junior high school and no longer read them. Darn! Worth some money now!

But then the store owners got greedy and jacked up the rents. One by one the antique stores shut down. Some moved their businesses to Fort Langley, but many of them relocated to Front Street in New Westminster, the Lower Mainland's new antique alley.

Some of those former antique shops are still sitting empty. For years! I can't see as how that was a good business move by the owners of the stores. Better to have a tenant at a lower price than no income at all.

A few antique stores still remain in Cloverdale, one of the best known is the Red Barn Antiques located on the southwest corner of the intersection at 176th Street and Highway 10. It has a large selection to choose from and has also supplied props to BC's movie and TV industry. Its still open, but a few months ago the Cloverdale Reporter announced that the owners are retiring and having a going out of business sale and will be closing. The Cloverdale Antique Mall opened around the same time as one of the last antique shops departed town and is located in the Clover Square Village at Highway 10 and 177B Street selling antiques and holding monthly auctions. Another place with antique sales and auctions is a business located in the old Safeway site in the soon to be demolished Cloverdale Mall, roughly located between 176th Street and Highway 15, and 58th and 57th Avenues. Cloverdale Antiques and Fine Art has been in business for many years and is located on 176th Street, a couple of shops down from the Clova Theatre.

Undoubtedly I've missed a couple of stores that sell some antiques in addition to other wares. Cloverdale is still a nice town to wander up and down the main street and discover a treasure in an antique store. But not on a Sunday or Monday. Many Cloverdale businesses are closed on those days.