St Charles Antique Mall — Local services in Saint Peters

I came here because I like old stuff, so Imagine my shock when I saw a PS3 for sale! After a while looking at prices on ebay, I decided I wanted to buy it as it wasn't too expensive compared to what was listed online, but it still wasn't cheap either. In the end I spent around $150 with some games along with the console, which isn't bad at all considering game prices on ebay. I felt rather satisfied, even with my wallet a fair bit lighter than when I entered, and when I got home and tested it the device appeared to function well enough. So that's it then, I got a PS3 for an okay price, what's with the low review score? Well, I always clean everything I get from second hand stores, thank goodness for this, and while the device looked rather clean from the outside, I happened to see a golden glimmer through the back vents. This golden glimmer shifted with the swaying of it's container, clearly not attached to anything, which had me instantly guessing what it could be. If it were an electrical component that had unseated itself it could cause major issues, I was warned about returns being unlikely from the store itself and I wanted to keep it anyway, so with my experience fixing electronics, I got to work taking the thing apart. When I actually got inside the thing, it was clear what I was messing with. Bugs. Cockroaches, specifically. A whole nest had been built up within it. There were eggs, bodies, and waste matter all over the inside of the device. The fan had been especially caked in a dry brown crust. Why me? Why am I cursed with such a fate? Anyway, how to proceed was unclear. I had a disgusting collage of filth splayed across my kitchen counter and no wits about me, so, I just took it all to bits, completely down piece by piece until it was all apart and hosed it down. Yes, I sprayed it with water. I went in idividually with a spray nozzle and targeted everything, even the boards. The fan gave me the most trouble with how caked on its crust was, I had to use all sorts of things to eventually wipe down each blade individually. After this, you might be wondering what my plan was. Other than to clean, obviously, but surely, at this point, the device would be broken beyond repair! I was aware of this possibility, but I was actually quite sure it would still function. After all, I dried everything thoroughly and there were few places for water to hide, since I took it to bits, and there didn't seem to be as many tiny surface mount components on the motherboard that could've been knocked off by the water. Even then I let it dry further until then next day when I bought new thermal paste to replaced what I had stripped off in my cleaning. In the whole repair process, my only real mistake was probably buying the wrong thermal paste and using it incorrectly, but after puting it all back together and recleaning some more parts in the process, it actually still worked. No functionality was lost, and it actually read discs better than before (although the disc drive was among the few things I didn't spray with water, I did clean the lens), so mission successful! I was only somewhat happy, though, because I honestly wasn't sure it would eventually overheat due to my bad thermal pasting job or randomly short itself with some mineral deposit left by the water. It hasn't, but the possibility is still there. At this point, I've settled down and thought about how I spent over a hundred dollars on a health hazard. It had been pumping fecal matter in the air whenever it had been powered on previously, and if the eggs were alive I would even be risking an infestation. Imagine putting your customers at risk like that. So I called the place up, I wasn't expecting much, not even a refund, but after explaining the situation and waiting for a call a few days later, I got nothing. So if you want to risk your health, go ahead and shop here, if you don't happen to want that, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. If it had been almost anybody else that had bought this, it'd have been a nightmare, I got lucky. Man, I'd be happy if I got just...

I went there for the This antique store is HUGE with so much to look at — the variety is incredible! I spent nearly two hours browsing, especially through books, and ended up purchasing over 30. I even found a collectible book that felt like the ultimate find of the day.

Unfortunately, my checkout experience really took away from the excitement. While ringing up my books, the worker accidentally ripped the first page of the book I was most thrilled about. I understand accidents happen, but what bothered me was her reaction afterward — she shrugged it off, gave a quick “sorry” that felt disingenuous, and acted like it was no big deal even after I explained the value of the book.

On top of that, she was rude when a few books didn’t have price tags. She told me "i cant give these to you there's no sticker" like it was my ill doings or intentions, then told me I’d have to walk back and find the booth myself so she could call the booth owner. Even after I did just that and gave her the booth number, she never called the owner and still gave me the books, making the whole ordeal feel unnecessary and dismissive. Like she wanted to make things difficult.

I still plan to return because the store itself is amazing and I don’t think this incident reflects the whole business. But if you’re working in antiques, especially with fragile books and collectibles, there needs to be more care, professionalism, and understanding of how much these finds mean to the buyers. My visit went from a wonderful treasure hunt to a really disappointing checkout — which is why I can only give 3...

The store overall is wonderful. Great prices and great booths! Very clean. HOWEVER…. Cindy at the front desk was EXTREMELY RUDE from the moment my parents and I walked in. We kindly asked where the restroom was, and she mumbled rudely that it was in the back and pointed in the direction..(it’s a big mall) not even looking at us. We didn’t think much of it. We go to check out (spending quite a bit of money) and she is completely hateful the entire check out process and I even said there was no reason to be rude. She became very rude with us because my mom said a booth had a sale, and got upset cause she couldn’t find a tag that SHE took off of an item we were purchasing. The gentleman checking us out didn’t say a word or look at us. Cindy, I hope you learn customer service skills, how to smile and how to treat your customers. I also hope your day...