Tres Bien — Local services in Natchitoches

I try to pop in to Tres Bien at least once or twice a year. However, next time ill be skipping out on it. For being the oldest town in Louisiana one would naturally expect it to be something almost akin to an antiques mecca. Not so. In fact it is the opposite; aside from Tres Bien and the pitiful 2 storey junk shop across the street, there arent any antique shops at all. Every person ive ever brought to Natchitoches remarks on the absence of antique shops of any substance. Youd think for a town like natchitoches theyd be every other storefront.

The problem with Tres Bien is that NOTHING ever changes. Its like the owner bought out an already "meh" antique shop 15 years ago and has just let the remaining stuff sit for the past decade with no concerns about bringing in anything new or even rotating the same old junk to give a fresh appearance (not that id advise that, i feel the staleness is too bad at this point for a rearrange to fix).

I have literally gotten to where i will no longer go because there is no point to. Its the same stuff year in, year out. Clearly the "good stuff" has long since been picked through. People in the area are big fans of empire, rococo-revival, etc. Yet this store has none of that. A couple of lower quality later victorian pieces that have basically grown into the floor at this point with price tags from back in the day when such furniture wasnt able to be found by the vanload on facebook marketplace is all thats left. Some reproductions, some early 1900s pieces, but its all stuff thats been there for YEARS now. Its just very dissapointing. The "sale room" in the back makes me laugh, once again, its the same stuff but after years of being picked through, it now gives one the impression of truly just being garbage left over from a garage sale.

We are baffled by how the owner can even keep the lights on (maybe hes doing a lot of online sales and the storefront is just for "show"? Even at that its like, dont YOU get tired of looking at the same stuff? To say nothing of your potential customers.....

And its a shame because as i said, people come to Natchitoches HOPING to find antiques. I would LOVE to purchase things from Tres Bien, but lord the last time i did was probably in 2016!!! Theres just never...

Went in to check out some used vinyl...Rita (who only works on Mondays) has personal vinyl that the owner lets her sell on consignment (owner gets 15%)...the problem I found is Rita is pushy... every one of her albums is a "steal"... I was looking through the LPs and making a stack that I was interested in...she took my stack up to the register and started ringing them up as sales...then when I told her I wasn't sure I wanted those at those prices she said she had already rung them up and that she would have to have the owner (who I found very unfriendly for someone that sells to the public) to take the LPs out of the register...so to keep peace I said okay...to convince me she threw in an album that was a 3 record set with only two of the records and part of the tri-fold torn off (she orginally wanted $10 for this). Most of her albums were overpriced and I did overpay...she googles the LPs to price them and talks like she's an expert but I found many errors in her descriptions. To sum up...you may find a treasure or two here but she will talk up every LP because at those prices she thinks they are a "steal" and do not let her take your records to the register until you are ready...and DO HAGGLE because most are overpriced. By the way...I was there for over an hour...and there were one one or two custmers other than me in that time and none of them were looking at the records. If you go on another day when Rita is not there...the owner is a little more gruff and probably won't haggle at all...she has some records for sale too that are mostly trashed and are extremely overpriced...she puts prices on the LPs with stickers which as collectors we know...

I did not find it the kind of thrift store I typically see a thrift store being. It is more like a shop for someone looking for items for their home that have an antique vibe to it. Glasses, plates, old books, and items like an old typewriter were here. Maybe it's good for window shopping, but that is about it for me. Also, none of the staff greeted me or acknowledged my presence. That may have added to my dislike for this store. I didn't even waste space in my phone for pictures. I will not...