Photo by Jennifer Best
	The Arroyo Grande Village still has the feel of the Old West.

By Jennifer Best

You may call it a hobby. Your spouse may call it an obsession. Any way you slice it, if your idea of fun is hunting for Depression-era glassware, checking out turn-of-the-century Empire oak furniture or a 1949 Jennings slot machine, Arroyo Grande Village is worth a look.

The old-town village, two miles up Grand Avenue from the beach, is home to half a dozen stores specializing in antiques and collectibles. Parking is a cinch (and free), and all of the shops are within three short blocks of each other. Restaurants, coffee shops, parks and a creekside trail offer respites from the hunt for that special nostalgic something.

"I go to see what they're getting for stuff my mother had and that we gave away," said Glenda Bailey of Bakersfield during a recent visit to Village Antique Mart, 126 E. Branch St.

As she inspected price tags on end tables and dressers, her husband perused the nearby toy section. He selected a handful of large glass marbles and eyed the tin train sets before heading for the cash register.

"It's an addiction," said Michael Gray, owner of A Glance Into the Past Antiques at 410 E. Branch St. His warehouse-style shop includes miscellany collected by more than two dozen vendors, each of whom offers his own specialty - toys, furniture, glassware, silverware, tools, hardware and clothing to name a few.

Indeed it was the bug for collecting that led to the opening of Creekside Antiques and Collectibles at 122 E. Branch St. The mother-daughter ownership team had collected so many things at home they no longer had any place to put them all. They opened a little shop, and later expanded into their current location.

Creekside specializes in Depression-era glassware, though visitors are just as likely to enjoy the assemblage of silverware, postcards and collectibles. Chandeliers, clocks and dolls dominate the shelves at The Green Vase Antiques, 117 E. Branch St. If you're looking for North Carolinian 5-cent notes printed in 1863, Village Antique Mart is the place.

While each store has its focus, all of the village shops stock a bit of everything to keep up with customers' changing tastes and intrigues.

"People used to be interested in true antiques. Now they're so old people don't want them," Gray said. "For a long time, if you had 1930s waterfall furniture, you couldn't get rid of it. Now everyone wants it. The hottest things right now are from the '40s and '50s; especially the '50s."

Toys are also a very big deal these days.

"Sixties furniture is worth zero right now. I couldn't give it away," Gray said. "But a 1960s toy in its original box could be worth hundreds."

One might think competition would be strong with so many antique shops sharing a neighborhood, but shop owners say antiquing in the village improves with each new store.

"It's like those auto malls," Gray said. "When people buy a car, they want to drive them all, so they're putting the dealerships next door to each other. Antiquing is the same. People want to look, and having more stores, more diversity is really our strength."

Jennifer Best is a writer and Central Coast native who hikes more than she antiques.