I had a very similar experience to several other reviewers, which is why I don't think what…read morehappened during our visit can simply be written off as someone having an off day.
My party and I (3 people total) happened to visit during Fall Furniture Market, although we didn't even realize Market had already started. We weren't wearing Market badges or lanyards, and afterward I couldn't help wondering whether that had something to do with the way we were treated.
When we arrived, the owner was outside by a very large fire pit where he had started a fire. We basically had to squeeze past him just to get into the store, and still weren't greeted. Not a hello, not a "welcome," not a "let us know if you need anything." Nothing.
Once inside, not a soul greeted us or offered to help us. Yet strangely, an employee seemed to follow us around as we walked through the store. I obviously can't know what his intention was, but it certainly felt as though we were being watched to make sure we weren't going to shoplift rather than being treated as potential customers.
Normally I might chalk an experience like that up to an unusually busy or bad day. But after reading other reviews describing very similar experiences with being ignored or made to feel unwelcome, it doesn't appear that our experience was necessarily an isolated one.
Pricing was another frustration. Many items had no visible prices, meaning we would have needed to track someone down just to find out what things cost--the same people who hadn't acknowledged us in the first place.
What ultimately concerned me even more was the merchandise itself. There are enormous quantities of furniture and decorative objects with an aged, distressed, antique or vintage appearance. After our visit, I became curious and started researching where some of the merchandise comes from.
I learned that Golden Oldies has imported merchandise from Traditional Handicrafts Centre (THC) in Jodhpur, India, a company that manufactures furniture and makes extensive use of reclaimed materials. That does not mean everything at Golden Oldies is newly manufactured. There appear to be genuinely old pieces mixed throughout the inventory. But it did make me realize that old-looking and actually old are not necessarily the same thing.
Golden Oldies' own website gave me additional pause. Its product listings include a disclaimer explaining that representations concerning age, origin and materials are best estimates based on visual assessment and available information and cannot be guaranteed with absolute accuracy.
That's a pretty important qualification when shopping at a business called Golden Oldies Antiques, particularly if the age or provenance of an object is part of the reason for its price.
We actually went there prepared to shop and buy something. Instead, we left without purchasing anything.
Between having to squeeze past the owner just to enter without so much as a greeting, being completely ignored once inside while simultaneously feeling as though we were being followed, the lack of readily visible pricing, and my uncertainty about what was genuinely antique or vintage versus contemporary, reproduction, or newly constructed from reclaimed material, I simply didn't have enough confidence to spend my money there.
If you decide to shop here, I would recommend asking very specific questions before purchasing: How old is this piece? Where did it come from? Is it genuinely antique/vintage, or is it contemporary furniture made from reclaimed materials? And what information is being used to determine its age?
I wish those distinctions--and the welcome--had been much clearer during our visit.
