Pink Elephant Antique Mall — Local services in Staunton

TL;DR: This place is an overpriced tourist trap with bad food and an enormous statue of a disgrace of a man out front to top it all off. The sellers also admittedly scam people.

There is nothing of real value here besides overpriced junk, in all honesty. The top floor is full of tin posters and "Live Laugh Love" type junk (and Funko Pops now) whilst the basement has quite a bit of movies and kids toys in overpriced and less than great condition. The rest of the "mall" is a disorganized and dusty mess.

I'm a doll collector and have found a few Bratz dolls for my collection here, but they were in terrible condition and were missing their proper clothes (they were in Barbie clothes). The other dolls they do have that I was interested in are astronomically overpriced compared to sold eBay listings. They charge $40-75 for dolls that have sold for literally $15, and refuse to budge more than 10% on the price even after seeing proof that they don't go for that much. It's completely ridiculous. It's no wonder their dolls do not sell...like, they've all been there for years or months. I'll just take my money elsewhere like I've been doing.

Btw, I called them out on scamming people with the doll prices and they seriously told me "it's not a scam if someone buys it when they don't know." As if that excuses it or something when that's literally the definition of a scam! THEY ARE KNOWINGLY SCAMMING PEOPLE by upcharging because they think they can get away with it if the customer doesn't know. They have terrible business practices and they should be ashamed. Tbh idk why I expected any better behavior considering the statue they worship out front, but I digress.

Anyway, this place isn't really anything but a tourist trap of overpriced junk compared to all the other antique stores I've been to along I-55. Just meh. The food at Twisty Treat also sucks. Cheap dry meat, and mediocre fries with a overly long wait time. Don't even bother with this...

This place is an extreme disappointment.

I had not set foot in it since prior to covid, so it had been a good two years since my last visit. I'd been making a stop here and there on various road trips, but stopped since nothing in the store ever changed. After two years, I can say that it's only gotten worse. This place is dirty, dusty, grimey, and instead of fixing it up, the people working there just sit around talking to each other. Booths have the same things in them with ridiculous high prices that they had years ago. Booths are so packed with items that are basically trash that you can barely move in them. Things have cobwebs on them. This place is a nightmare. It looks like it'll be a fun stop on the outside, but don't waste your time.

Update, 11 months later: My mother and I decided to stop in to give this place another chance. The previous review still stands. People working barely acknowledge customers and are so busy sitting around chatting with each other that they seem super put out when you ask for help. A giant layer of dust on at least 75% of the store. Same pieces as 5+ years ago in some booths with the same way-too-high prices as years ago on them. We gave up early since we were both suffering some kind of allergic reaction from the shop (likely the unreal level of uncleanness) and thought we'd grab an ice cream cone before leaving. We sat at the bar to order, watched the only woman working there sneeze and cough into her hands, wipe her nose with the side of one hand, and give the customers at the walk-up their food without cleaning her hands or even grabbing a tissue. We left pretty fast after that. This store has so much potential but it's just disgusting and overpriced, and apparently that's how it's going to stay. I don't have it has such a good rating on here unless employees are asking friends for reviews or people stopping in have extremely...

I want to counteract some of the very few negative reviews about this place. I've been coming here on and off for over a decade and the place has always been cluttered and overflowing but, apart from one booth that I always steer clear of, it is easy to navigate and just adds to the experience. There being so much makes it fun to pick through it to find that book, tape, camera, or whatever else you didn't expect to find but now HAVE to buy!

The restaurant is also awesome. I've been there three times - once around when it first opened and twice in the past year and every time the food and service were great. Don't be scared off by people saying that it took an hour to get their food. I went recently with 4 family members and it took maybe 15 minutes for all of our food to come out.

The area where some people have a point is in the prices. The last time I went there were a number of things I wanted to get before deciding to have a look online and finding that the used item I was holding was either the same price or more expensive than the same thing brand new (CDs, books, etc.). Not every booth is like that but some seem to be pricing items for collectors rather than people expecting to get a good deal at a flea market style place.

Also, the Trump statue seems to be turning a lot of people off. There are UFOs and skeletons climbing the building and sasquatch. Don't let a silly 30 foot Trump statue be your...