Bristol Antiques Market — Attraction in Bristol

Beware shopping here if you have a bag, are young, or are alternative. This was once my favorite store in Bristol, but today, my friend and I had a very upsetting experience. We were walking around, looking at all of the beautiful pieces when we were interrupted by a woman (not the manager) who had been following us. “Are you doing okay? Because we’ve seen you going in and out of your bags quite a lot,” in a VERY accusatory tone. We were going in and out of our bags very briefly for things like water and our phones. My friend replied, “Are you accusing us of stealing because we’ve done nothing wrong?” She replied something like “We’ve been seeing you go in and out of your bags on the cameras, so you tell me.” My friend, who is alternative, said “it feels like you are profiling us,” because my friend goes through things like this due to profiling. Key words: I FEEL. This set the woman off and she began to yell at us and said that we were “profiling her to be a profiler,” proceeded to call us children, (we are both 18), and told us to leave and never come back to the store. The store that my friend and I have BOTH spend HUNDREDS of dollars at and have NEVER stolen from. She told us to leave and never come back after my friend said “I FEEL like we are being profiled.” All this woman had to do was calmly say, “I apologize but any time we see people with open bags, going in and out of them, we must say something just in case.” That would have been much more appropriate, especially if she had thought we were children in the first place. Instead she yelled and called us disrespectful children, saying we should know how to act better if we are adults, but all we were doing was defending our innocence, while she was getting angry, disrespectful, and emotional. It hurts to be accused of stealing from artists when you are the type of person who finds behavior like that sickening and disgusting. We spoke to the manager who told us we could come back, but she made my alternative friend empty their bag and not me, when I know for a fact I had been going in and out of mine more for my water and iPhone. If we knew we couldn’t go into our bags for our personal belongings without being accused of stealing, of course we would not. This situation was handled poorly, and I will not happily go back. I’m both disappointed, sad, and angry. If they reviewed the footage, they’d see that we never had anything in our hands while we were upstairs. And why didn’t they want to see my bag when my alternative friend barely even went in theirs? Please review the way you handle these situations. This was hurtful to me and my character, and I have multiple anxiety disorders. This ruined my day, and I have my birthday dinner tonight. My heart is still racing from how upset I am at what happened and it happened an hour or two ago. Young people are human beings too and deserve respect. If you don’t want people walking around with bags, THEN SAY THAT AND IMPLEMENT THAT POLICY!!! Don’t attack your paying customers!! Not...

After my friend bought something we went upstairs to continue looking. After a bit, one of the women that works there began lurking in the background watching us. She then came up and said she saw us going in our bags a lot, and that we needed to leave. I was taken aback, and said that I didn’t understand why, because we definitely did not steal. And that I felt like she was profiling us. She immediately got very defensive and shouted “don’t come at me like that” and began to call us children, said to not have an attitude and to leave and never come back. I replied that we are 18 and legally not children, and that we have been coming there for years and spent 100s of dollars there. so it seems ridiculous to be permanently banned over nothing. Once downstairs I explained what happened to the owner.They said they saw me going in my bag a lot on the camera “around the t shirt section”. So what would I have stolen? A t shirt shoved in my small bag? Me and my friend know for a fact she went in her bag more and they specifically only asked to see mine. I emptied my bag until they were satisfied and said I can come back.. but one can’t help but feel unwelcome after an experience like this. They acted as if I should have known better because there is a “no teenagers upstairs” sign when basically the whole upstairs is toys.. I’ve been going here for years and they have never brought that sign up to me or any other minor I’ve seen there. I understand being worried about stealing but you can approach it in a kind non aggressive way. Me and my friend both struggle with mental illness and situations like this are very upsetting. Also a review 5 years ago had the same issue, for your own sake...

Huge antique store with amazing collection and variety of finds! They carry both new and old items and they’re in great shape.

Mt daughter and I love collecting old vintage gowns, they do have a rack here!

The store is well organized, carries tons of vintage jewelry and gemstone rings. The furniture is also beautiful, it’s used for display but is also available for purchase.

The owners aren’t super helpful or friendly, but you don’t really need help in a vintage store - it’s all about the adventure of discovery! You could spend hours in here it’s like grandmas closet on crack and gives amazing nostalgia since there’s all the cool Nick Nacks from childhood(millennials)

Def...