Vintage Junk Lover
Plan around Estate Sales
Estate sales occur just about every weekend in the Meridian area. In fact, most weekends feature several. Before you nail down the dates of your visit, check the sales schedules at EstateSales.net. You’ll also want to consult craigslist and the online classified ads section of the local newspaper, The Meridian Star.
Happy hunting for junkers, DIYers, and antiques aficionados.
When you’re hunting antiques in Meridian, you’ll do a bit of roaming, and you’ll poke around in some unexpected places. In other words, you’ll do what antique hunters love to do anyway.
For a good starting point, head out on U.S. Highway 45 a little past the Marion town limit. You’ll find two big antique malls a quarter mile apart: Captain's 45 Flea Market and Amish Store and Penny’s Little Flea Market. Both have plenty to browse in the parking lot before you make your way to the booths inside. 45 Flea Market, in particular, probably has at least one example of whatever you’re looking for, from old farm machinery to delicate glassware. It even attracted a film crew from Home Town, the HGTV series that stars home restorers Ben and Erin Napier, [INVALID]d in Laurel, Mississippi. Less than a half mile south of Captain's 45 Flea Market and Amish Store, just off U.S. 45 on Sam Lackey Road, is the new location of Uneedit (or, as the sign on the building says, U-need-it) a mall, flea market, pawnshop, and auction company that specializes in antiques, collectibles, and estates. A few miles south of that, on Dale Drive (Old Highway 45), you'll discover Finders Keepers Flea Market & Antique Mall, also in a new (and air-conditioned!) location.
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Moving into Meridian itself, you’ll want to check out Hidden Treasures Flea Market, another large, climate-controlled space with an ever-evolving group of vendors. It’s on Old Marion Road, just off Highway 45.
1-Day Stay
Plan your day’s campaign over coffee and breakfast at Cater’s Market. Then hunt for antiques among the 40-plus vendors at The Atrium Mini Mall just down the street. Refuel with lunch at Mugshots Grill & Bar. After that, it's time to search the many nooks and crannies of Captain's 45 Flea Market and Amish Store for, well, whatever strikes your fancy. While you're there, check out the cheeses, jellies, pies, cakes, and other goodies at the Amish store.
Downtown Meridian features several different antiquing experiences, including an imposing, century-old building on Front Street. The Hulett occupies the former home of the Hulett Furniture Company, a family-owned store that closed in 2010 after 125 years in business. It’s now a fine interiors and antiques market, with several antiques and collectibles booths on the first floor and a fascinating variety of furniture and art on the second and third floors. It also still sells new furniture, mostly by custom order.
Blocks away, on the other side of the railroad tracks, Family Flea Market claims to be the largest indoor flea market in East Mississippi and West Alabama that’s open year-round. It rambles through 52,000 square feet in three connected buildings, with more than 200 vendors.
In the bustling retail area along Poplar Springs Drive/Highway 493 in north Meridian, The Atrium Mini Mall houses a unique business model. It features a collection of upscale mini-boutiques selling furniture, clothing, jewelry, artwork, and lots more. You’ll have to do some browsing to find the antiques among the new merchandise. Trust us: You won’t mind a bit.
Make it a weekend
Start with the made-in-Mississippi items, some with repurposed components, at Crooked Letter. Warning: You’ll be saying, “Ooh, gotta have it!” A lot. Just a block away, The Hulett offers several floors of unusual furniture and other antiques. Lunch at Harvest Grill will energize you for spending the next day and a half happily wandering flea markets and vintage shops all over town, and just north of Meridian in Marion. You might also want to drive a few minutes east to The Simmons-Wright Company in Kewanee, where even the business itself is an antique: a still-operating general store that dates back to 1884.
Cap off the day with a spectacular Southern meal experience at The Rustler. Be sure to try one of the specialty cocktails. And definitely make time for Weidmann’s Sunday Jazz Brunch, an indulgence you’ll rhapsodize about for months.