Two Times New — Local services in Fredericksburg

Those that know me well know I am not a person to easily be angered by anything, but this morning, an incident at Two Times New left me both furious and heartbroken.

My mother, a spirited 72-year-old who lives on a fixed income, waited over 2 YEARS for a chance to sell her carefully curated items at this supposedly reputable store. Despite initial reservations about security—there, as there have been multiple thefts, even by staff themselves (she was told this from one of their own employees that even employees would steal from the vendors and one was fired recently for it)—she decided to move forward anyway, filled with hope and excitement.

An employee suggested against renting 2 of 3 spots available due to high theft, and after a 2nd call my mother decided to go ahead and try it out in the 3rd "safer" spot. After investing her limited resources and countless hours in setting up her spot perfectly, the store owner called her early this morning, just 5 days later with shocking news. My mom was being kicked out, supposedly because she wasn't "enthusiastic enough" initially, due to her very valid concerns about theft.

How can enthusiasm be a condition for a rental agreement? How can a senior citizen, who shows nothing but dedication, be treated with such blatant disregard?

The owner’s behavior was not just dismissive but downright disgraceful. She condescendingly ignored my mother's efforts and even placed a demeaning sign at her booth—“Items In This Booth Are not For Sale”— making her feel humiliated.

We deserve businesses that uplift their vendors, not those that kick them down just because they feel they are entitled to do whatever they wish. This isn’t just poor business practice; it’s morally reprehensible. I refuse to let such actions slide quietly by. This kind of behavior should not be the face of our business community.

We should not allow our local businesses to treat anyone, especially our vulnerable and elderly, with such disdain. We need your voices to ensure that no one else faces such unwarranted treatment.

Let's demand better. The way "Two Times New" treats its vendors is a disgrace.

My mother wanted nothing more than a chance to be able to try her hand at selling a few things. She was incredibly excited and proud to have her shop set up. You took that from her on a mindless illogical...

This was my first time stopping in after driving by for a number of years. I really appreciated the variety of booths from highly curated antique sellers to thrift sellers offering kids’ items and bath needs. It’s like a thrifting and antiquing trip all in one!

I was wary of other reviewers’ warning of overpricing (sometimes people go into an antique store expecting goodwill prices), but unfortunately there was a pretty high proportion of booths with unreasonably inflated prices for modern secondhand items. The antique-ier booths all seemed to have pretty fair pricing, not surprising as antiques and true vintage items have well known values that shoppers can easily research themselves to avoid scams!

Some of my favorite booths were one with an amazing array of vintage Pyrex and other colorful mid century kitchen items and one hiding in the back with a fun (and pretty fairly priced) display of antique “Vaseline” or uranium glass!

I didn’t buy a ton of things on this visit, but I was quite disappointed when I got home and opened up one of my few purchases - a vintage fabric remnant from a booth selling quilting supplies - and found that the seller had very sneakily tucked away a bunch of cuts taken from the piece to make it look bigger! Listen, the booth was half off that day so I spent all of $1.50 on this little piece, and of course I expect a cut end here or there on secondhand textiles! But it’s just dishonest and sneaky to hide what you’re actually selling, especially when you tape up the bag so shoppers can’t look at the actual piece of material...

Think of this place like an indoor flea market. Booths are set up by individual sellers (who are not there in person though) so the pricing is not the same all around. There is some really cool vintage stuff here but I can see why some reviewers call some things "junk". But you got to remember: one person's trash is another's treasure!

Now for more niche part of my review: Dolls. This is mainly why I love this thrift store. Several sellers offer older and newer toys, and I almost always find a doll or two to add to my collection. I even found two anime figures last visit (didn't check if they were authentic though). So highly recommend if you're a doll and...