Joi B.
Yelp
Surely, the sport of searching through old, sometimes charming, sometimes battered and broken, sometimes pristine and priceless furniture, curios, glassware, books, is one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend day. Some people go golfing. Some people go hiking. I go antiquing.
This was opening weekend for the newest antique shop in what is quickly becoming the "Antique Row" of The Bottoms.
Truly, I prefer this area to 45th Street ("officially" recognized as Kansas City's Antique Row) for several reasons:
-affordability
-selection (typically more late 19th century through mid 20th century)
-arrangement of items in the "booths"
-relaxed vibe
-friendly vendors who will often bargain with you
Antique Row has some fantastic, often stunning items, but it's all out of my price range (I mean, *really* out of my price range. I refer you to my review of Portobello Road & Camel Antiques where I casually asked the price on a desk and it turned out to be more than twice the price of my car).
Bella Patina is yet another wonderful addition to the Bottoms. Although not as crammed full with things as neigbhors Liberty Belle and Good Juju, today appeared to be a great start for them. I especially admired all of the vintage linens which were in excellent condition, offered by several vendors. I spoke with one of the gals who had an area (it's a bit less "boothy" here than places like River Market Antique Mall) after I admired a set of green chairs that I came very close to buying. She told me from the get go that she was in the mood to bargain. Nice! I would have grabbed those chairs, but I wanted to look around a bit more here as well as Liberty Belle and Good Juju (where I ended up finding my dream slipper chairs).
I look forward to returning to Bella Patina once a month to see what new lovely things they have in store for us. I have very high expectations of this shop!