Escondido Antique Mall — Attraction in Escondido

Ugh. Very devastated. I've lived in Escondido my entire life and I have come here over the years and I have had negative experiences with some of the staff members over the years. But nothing too crazy. Well this place always always has old trains/train sets and I have a little brother who LOVES old trains and collects them. So he asked me if I could please take him to the Escondido antique store to look for some trains. My little brother has Autism he is on the spectrum. We went and I walked in the door and immediately had a whole bunch of eyes on us and not in a normal welcome to the store kind of way, my little brother went straight down the right side of the store and I was looking at the stalls on the right as I'm walking with him and I stop him because I spotted something I liked. I grab it and I grabbed a book as well. At the end of the aisle where you curve around to get to the other side was a man standing there and I said hello with a smile and I'm also trying to keep up with my brother and the man looks at me and asks "do you want me to hold that's stuff at the front for you?" I was so caught off guard not knowing if he was a employee or just another customer (he was standing there arms crossed almost like he was waiting for us) that I said "Sure" and handed him my things. He then said "Do you want me to hold anything else?" And I held my arms open and I said "No????" Because I wasn't carrying anything else and neither was my brother. Mind you my brother has a bright blue powerpuff girl tshirt on a powerpuff mini backpack, tiedye socks on and a tiedye hat with Mickey Mouse on it. I don't know of very many thieves that walk around with that on.We made it to the far right side of the store and here comes an employee we walk into a stall and Oop there goes another one walking by. My brother found a train and we make it up to the front... and they are close to closing maybe 45mins to closing and all the employees are at the front of the store at the register. Including the ones that were following us. I had to pay for things separately. Im getting rung out and the cashier types in the Info on the pin pad/keypad and she asks "does it tap?" I said "Yes" she accidentally types in the invoice number and is saying "okay tap it tap it just tap the card" and I say "Not for $2,000 l'm not tapping the card" at this point l'm being stared at by many of the employees at the front... my total was $34 dollars not $2000 dollars I kind just laugh it off and move on to pay for my brother's train set which cost almost $140 plus what I got almost adds up to $200. The items I found I am gifting because when I saw them I immediately thought of someone and that's the beauty of places like this.. and like mentioned I've popped in here over the years but I will never be back in all honesty if my little brother didn't want his train so badly I would've just walked out. Because I felt profiled and it is a terrible feeling and I wanted to say something but not with my brother there nope. wasn't going to write a review just kind of left it alone and just decided I'm never going back and never going to recommend this place to anyone especially if you are a person of color. I went on the reviews to check them out and went through the bad ones and saw some between yelp and Google saying that they felt the same way. And you wanna know what we all have in common…... a Hispanic name or last name... I hate when my mind jumps to this conclusion because I don't like to assume bad in people especially people who are working trying to just make a living. But if you look at some of the reviews you'll see what I'm talking about. Nuca voy a este lugar otra vez ay que se queden con sus cosas. ( sorry for the long read...

(From my Yelp) All I wanted was to buy a single DVD for $1. I was immediately greeted with hostility and an unwelcoming atmosphere. The lady behind the counter just stares at you, doesn't ask if you want help, welcomes you, even how your day is.

I didn't realize that you have to purchase at least $5 worth of products to use a card. My issue was that the woman acted like I was trying to rip them off, or was there to not spend money, or frankly like I shouldn't be there to begin with. After some extremely dry and rude responses from her regarding the credit card minimum, I decided to just leave because it seemed as though my money wasn't good there.

I hate to be this guy, but as someone who grew up in Escondido my whole life, I have experienced this many times. I'm never rude, I smile, and I always say please and thank you, but tbh, I think I know why I was treated like this and it's a shame that it continues to happen to this day.

Besides that the store is fine, it's actually pretty vast and has a nice selection of stuff. You can spend some time in there. Some vendors (in my opinion) charge WAY too much but others, you can find a nice deal. Besides the lady, the guy behind the counter next to her was nice, and I could tell was trying to remedy the situation that was happening.

I'm clearly not alone here, other reviews have said similar things. I think if you can get past the rudeness (they may stare at you/pester you the whole time so beware), you can find...

Decided to visit this place during our vacation in San Diego. We almost didn't stop by due to the distance from the Naval Base, where our son is attending school, which would have been a major mistake. We live in Florida, which is the antique capital of the world, but have not found anything of interest in quite some time. We were greeted upon entry and offered multiple opportunities for assistance. Great Customer Service! This place has something for everyone. We even walked away with two hurricane candle holders and a frosted Lead Crystal Vase with silver/brass base. They gave us a discount on both and we have not been this pleased with a purchase in a while. I would recommend you take the time and...