The Antique Guild — Local services in Alexandria

I am 75 years old, and I can't remember ever being treated more rudely in a place of business. My experience there was so bad it was almost comical. Several months ago I had asked if I could bring an old piece of inherited silverware in for an estimate of its value. On September 21, 2024, I took the piece in to this business to follow up on my request. There were two employees in the shop. One was dealing with a customer's purchase; the other was chatting with a person I assume was a customer. I went to the counter and stood there for approximately 10 to 15 minutes without either employee making eye contact with me or speaking to me. It's a small shop, so I'm sure they knew I was there. A smile, a nod, a "I'll be with you shortly" would have been fine. The woman working there spent a long period of time assiduously wrapping the package for her customer right in front of where I was standing without speaking or making eye contact. Finally, one of the customers said something like, "I think someone is waiting to speak to you." Only then did the male employee come up and speak to me. He told me the item I had brought in was only silver-plate (that was fine) and that it would probably retail for about $150 to $200. He then accidentally broke off the handle of the item. He didn't apologize for this but said it would cost $35 to get the piece soldered back on. He said he would pay me $40 for the item. I said no thank you and left. I will grant that I was not there to be a paying customer on this visit, but I could have been a paying customer in the future if I had not been treated so rudely. I certainly will never set foot in this place of...

This has to be one of my favorite antique stores. Adele and Mara are knowledgeable and passionate about all the merchandise they have. We literally could’ve talked to them all day if we weren’t holding up the line for others to enter the store.

They have quite the collection that is fairly priced as they’ve done the research on each item. I ended up purchasing the most beautiful set of silverware I’ve seen, and intend to come back at another date to buy the cutest tea strainer I’ve seen (fingers crossed it’s still there!)

Also want to say thank you for not discriminating against us when we came in. This is one of the few antique stores where we were treated like normal people and not stalked around like we’re thieves just because of the color of our skin or treated lowly because we’re...

An absolute treasure! Adele and Mara were both so wonderful, I could have talked to them for hours (actually I may have, my mom and I both lost track of time in here!). They’re so knowledgeable and interesting and have SUCH GOOD STUFF. Prices are very fair too. After I looked at just a couple of pieces, Adele totally got my vibe and pulled out the coolest pair of earrings (grand tour souvenir lava snakes!!) which I am now thrilled to own! I wish every shop was like this one. I can’t...