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Chad's experience echoes mine exactly. A couple times I checked into renting a booth at local malls and the price was in the $250/month range. I really don't see how most of these folks do it. This past year was a rough one, I guess, as 4 or 5 big ones that I would frequent have all closed.
Remember that antique stores are the retail market and auctions are the wholesale market. Old radios and tv sets regularly change hands at sales for $25, give or take $20. There isn't much in the way of reference material on prices so they have to guess. I've had experiences myself where patience would get me a deal. I have a great GE console radio from about 1930 that languished in a mall for $120 until the place closed its doors. The radio reappeared in another store and I happened to be there when they vendor was setting up. He gladly sold it to me for $40, tired of dragging it around. I remember one guy who had a junky shop in an old gas station. He had a 10" Admiral combo, pretty nice set. He never put a price tag on it, and every time I went in he would quote me something different. $85, $120, $100, $130...I know it stayed there for a couple years at least. He finally closed and I never saw it again. Often I wish I had grabbed it at $85, or tried harder to talk him down.
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Bryan
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