Among the vendors are two Civil War dealers, one from the North and one who grew up in the South, who offer drastically different memorabilia coming from opposite sides, Gail Snyder says.
It takes a good long while to make your way around the building, till you hit the furniture room, leaf through the sheet music, check out the glassware and size up a few pieces of vintage apparel. Paper ephemera alone is made up of categories such as labels, postcards, newspapers, and magazines.
"Wear comfortable shoes," Snyder advises, sinces some people spend hours. One recent customer stopped by first thing in the morning, making slow but steady progress around the mall before leaving for lunch. She returned to spend the afternoon taking the reverse route from her morning's stroll.
The number of dealers varies between a low of 65 and a high of more than 100, she says, and depends on how many booths each dealer rents.
Geographically, a certain area of the main part of the building holds things from 1960 or before. Toward the back, a few vendors sell crafts and reproductions not allowed in the front. Continued on Page 3