Merry Go Round Antique Mall — Local services in Bakersfield

This place was very fun to look around. I actually purchased a few items that were a very good price and of good quality. However after my first time there I will say this place gives Jim Crowe vibes. I found some items and left them at the front desk to do some more looking around. The employee informed me there was womens clothing on the bottom floor if I wanted to look more. I obliged not very interested but I didnt want to be rude. After she gave me a tour of the place she proceeded to ask me for my purse, which was a phone case! , and said it was their "policy". I was respectful and told her that i dont think it would be store policy for her to hold my phone. I also had a very small bag of jewelry I had bought from a nearby store. I showed her the items and told her that I do not trust her and if she wants to hold my stuff I dont care but who protects my things while I am shopping? She proceeded to follow me the whole time I was there and I politely told her thank you for the help but I wanted to do some more browsing but she continued to make slight racist comments and continued following me. I told her she was making me very uncomfortable and im offended at this point and she was giving me anxiety so I was leaving. After I purchased the items about 48$. She didnt even want to give me my "personal items" or the items i had just purchased! She said would I want her to hold onto them while I looked around?? After I already paid?? Disgusting. If the owner sees this it was an asain girl working. Terrible experience. When I return to Bakersfeild I will make sure I never return to this place and I will not let my family shop there either. Sucks because I really enjoyed the items I bought , would have spent more money if that employee was not so ignorant and poor manners. Hopefully the owner sees this and hires better people who are not scum. I left a picture so if I do decide to come back you know...

If you're going to Bakersfield for Antiques... your first stop would be across the street at the vintage Woolworth's Store Front Antique Mall with an operating dining counter. But your second stop needs to be Merry Go Round Antique mall JUST across the street!

This is respectable size as far as antique malls go... not too big, not too small, but it is filled with charm. One negative for me, which may be a positive to some is that this is only about half (if that) vintage antiques and has a lot of newer gifts mixed in. However, they have a lot of very cool items to see such as the vintage ticket booth that is right outside.

But let's get to what makes this place a not-to-be-missed, must-see attraction! First off, it is built over a legit coal mine! We saw the sign "this way to mine" and thought it was a sign that was for sale until you go down the hall and see the elevator that goes down into the mine!!! Of course you can't go down there... but it's amazing to see. Also there are some picture from when it was operational. And THAT'S NOT ALL!!! This place also used to be a vintage movie theater!!! And the projection room and the theater is STILL there! Sure you can't see a ton of it... but these things make this place a must seen for sure when you visit Bakersfield.

I wanted to ask the owners more about these places, but my son needed a diaper change and we had to split in a hurry. Make sure you check...

Disappointing experience. I was holding a couple of pez despensers while looking around and a short woman with dark hair working there came up to me and asked if she could hold the items up front for me, arm outstretched, more of a demand than a question, so I let her take them. It seemed very unusual to me, like she was discriminating against me, because I didn’t witness her do this with any other customer and I personally can’t think of a time that someone working in a store has ever asked me that when it wasn’t a huge or breakable item; she didn’t make me feel like she was doing it to help me out with her demanding attitude and the way she glared at me. It made me uncomfortable and I ended up not even showing my husband the pez despensers because of it. And we didn’t buy what he wanted to buy for our son because I didn’t want to bring her negative vibes home with us. Good thing there are plenty of other antique stores downtown! Farewell Merry Go Round, get a...