Your Florida 'Antiques Roadshow'

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Downtown Micanopy is a mecca for antiques shoppers.

Photo Credit: Bruce Crooks

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Renninger's Antique Center, Mount Dora

Photo Credit: Renninger's Antique Center

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Visitors explore the antiques hotspot of Aviles Street in St. Augustine.

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Antique lovers can discover unique finds at shops and markets across the state.

My longstanding love affair with antiques started with a beautifully hand-painted pitcher. I picked it up some years ago while shopping with my sister-in-law at Myers Fine Art & Antiques in St. Petersburg. Since then, my collection has grown and some of my most treasured memories pour from them during holidays and special occasions.

That’s the way it is with antiques. Every time a collector makes a fabulous find, that item begins a new chapter in its history, weaving a tapestry between strangers who share a common love for it.

Renninger’s Antique Center

No place is this more true than at Renninger’s Antique Center in Mount Dora, where more than 200 dealer stations and displays bring antiques lovers together on a daily basis. Monthly antiques fairs feature an extra 100 dealers, and antiques extravaganzas held in January, February and November up the ante with 800-1,000 dealers. Constant trading and acquisitions keep the sport of uncovering great finds at a high, thanks to the thousands of regulars who make this sweet Southern city their first stop for antiques shopping. (Renninger’s also has a Farmers and Flea Market open on weekends.)

Mount Dora has come to be known as an antiques collector’s heaven.

Renninger’s is not the only reason Mount Dora has come to be known as an antiques collector’s heaven. The city has many more varied antiques dealers scattered among galleries, boutiques and cafés – most within walking distance. Serious shops like the Village Antique Mall on North Highland Street have been in business for years, attracting a devoted repeat clientele.

St. Augustine

Quality items at competitive prices distinguish St. Augustine’s quaint antiques shopping district as one of Florida’s most impressive locales for antiques. Here, in shops like Churchill & Lacroix Antiquaire and the Lightner Antique Mall, you’ll get lost in Lalique, and beautiful Baccarat pieces will take your breath away.

More Discoveries

There are four more can’t-miss stops along this road show: Avonlea Antique Mall in Jacksonville; Havana (a very cool old tobacco town near Tallahassee); Micanopy (a small town near Gainesville with dozens of antiques shops crowded together, many on tree-lined Cholokka Boulevard); and rodeo town Arcadia’s antiques district.

Scattered across the state, each promises fantastic collectibles that carry a serious pedigree and plenty of reasons to plan a return trip.