Don’t be mistaken in thinking you’ll be able to load up on artifacts from the Shrine of Texas Liberty at the Alamo Antique Mall, located at 125 Broadway at Travis in downtown San Antonio. (Besides, Phil Collins has that market cornered! Bless him.) However, you will be able to load up on glassware, furniture, silver, coins, records, Life magazines, vintage clothing, jewelry, collectibles–including items from HemiFair ’68–and more at this three-story shopping center that’s teeming with antique treasures.

I still cherish a pair of Art Deco Czechoslovakian glass bookends my husband and I bought on a massive U.S. road trip in the summer of 1995. (Ours are in better shape.) Those and a pair of framed 1940s Parisian street scenes were the souvenirs we brought back from an antique mall we stumbled upon in Michigan. Not magnets. Not t-shirts. Not coffee mugs, but quirky, unique items that I still love.

Be sure to visit all three floors of the Alamo Antique Mall. I had the most luck on the third floor, where I snagged a pipe-smoking monkey cookie jar that I’m going to mail to Lynda Barry, one of my favorite writers/artists; 12 Our Lady of Guadalupe hand-painted tiles from Mexico that I’ve given to family and friends; and a dancer-festooned trivet for my Samba instructor. If I had more room in my house, I would have purchased a couple of TDF chairs, especially the bamboo beauty featured in the slideshow.

I keep thinking that the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau needs to invite some of the HGTV hosts to San Antonio so that they can glory in the offbeat riches available in San Antonio. (Like Off My Rocker and Boysville, along with the antique shops and thrift stores located on Hildebrand Avenue, Blanco Road and West Avenue.) Maybe not, though. More for us!

Alamo Antique Mall is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Packing, shipping and gift wrapping is available.

Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D., author of “San Antonio’s Passport to Fun,” has been blogging about San Antonio since June of 2010. Follow her at facebook.com/SanAntonioTourist so that you’ll never miss a post. Her love affair with the Alamo City began at Hemisfair in 1968. She moved to San Antonio in 1979 as an 18-year-old college student, and San Antonio has been her home ever since. Denise completed certification to become a professional tour guide in 2019. Please contact her at sanantoniotourist at gmail dot com if you’d like for her to curate a fabulous San Antonio experience for you!