Hitting the Row - antique stores in Denver, Colorado - Brief Article

Sunset, Oct, 2001 by Claire Walter

Looking for treasure in Denver's shop-packed antiques district

Amazing fact: The nine-block stretch of Denver's South Broadway between East Arizona and East Evans Avenues houses more than 400 antiques dealers. Dust off the credit card. Shopping along Antique Row, as veteran dealers call it, can yield the long-sought addition to a collection, a fanciful spur-of-the-moment purchase, a lovely piece of estate jewelry, a favorite childhood toy, or just a few hours of soul-satisfying browsing.

All antiques stores are on South Broadway Small dealers cluster in multishop malls such as Antique Exchange or Antique Guild & Antique Market. Others are set in a mix of commercial buildings and cottages.

Many of these spots specialize. At the Antique Trader, it's leaded glass windows, many from Europe. Across the street, a heavy wooden door salvaged from a Danish church leads into Scandinavian Antiques, a warehouse-size store showcasing meticulously restored country furniture from Denmark, Sweden, and eastern Europe. McDowell's Antiques is Denver's largest dealer in old silver (they carry porcelain too). And glass cases at Packrat Antiques neatly display old scientific, technical, nautical, medical, and mining instruments--often museum-quality--as well as gizmos ranging from crossbows to manual typewriters.

Some dealers are as colorful as their wares. Blinky's Antiques and Collectibles is operated by Russell Scott, otherwise known as Blinky the Clown. His television character was a children's favorite for 38 years. He nests in his cluttered little shop, proclaiming: "I just love old stuff. I love old people. I'm one of them. I'm 80." He doesn't look it.

Next door, a chatty former roller-skating professional whom everyone calls Foxy presides over Foxy's Antiques. Collectors and nostalgia buffs come to her to buy old cast-iron toys and banks, dollhouse furniture, and antique advertisements and commercial signs.

On nippy autumn days, regulars stop for excellent sandwiches, pizza, pasta, and pastry at Pasquini's Pizzeria, also on South Broadway.

Travel planner

WHERE: From Interstate 25 take exit 207-A (Broadway); turn south to Antique Row.

CONTACT: Antique Exchange: (303) 777-7871. Antique Guild & Antique Market: 744-0281. Antique Trader: 722-6098. Blinky's Antiques and Collectibles: 778-7583. Foxy's Antiques: 777-7761. McDowell's Antiques: 777-0601, Packrat Antiques: 778-1211. Pasquini's Pizzeria: 744-0917. Scandinavian Antiques: 722-2541.