Contemplating ways to recreationally enjoy our Saturday and get out of town for the day, we mutually agreed on an hour trip to Springfield, Ohio. A huge plus was we only needed money for gas, any purchases, and dinner. Our first stop was Springfield Antique Center, a candy land to the antique and retro lover! After spending over two hours there, we headed to Springfield Antique Center #2, which felt more like a flea market than an antique store, but cool all the same. By this time, we were HUNGRY and traveled about 10 minutes to eat dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Springfield. On the way back home, we stopped in German Village to visit The Book Loft. We were too tired to get through all 32 rooms, so we will hit the rooms we missed next time. This was a thoroughly fun day for us!
The Springfield Antique Center is truly like an antique wonderland! We had such a good time looking through all the booths and cabinets, going down memory lane, discovering items from days gone by, and the deals – they got ‘em! We hopped on some vinyl records (some being only $1 or $2 dollars); we were like kids in a candy store. Also, staff members were very helpful in checking in with us to see if we needed cabinets unlocked to take a closer look at items, giving us a number tag, and securing our finds at the checkout counter. One of the staff members suggested we check out their other store “at the bottom of the hill”; we had an hour before they closed, so we sorted through our items waiting for us at the counter, selected our new treasures, and ventured onward.
Just a hop, skip, and away (down a drive), we shopped at Springfield Antique Center #2. We agreed to walk through this as quickly as we could, as we were needing to eat at this point, so we probably missed some things, but still enjoyed our time at this much smaller store. There was A LOT to see at this one too.
Cracker Barrel in Springfield was the perfect restaurant to satisfy our hunger, provide additional exploratory shopping (Halloween, Christmas, Scooby-Doo, and Bob Ross items were treats for us), and we even played the peg game at the table. Our tasty and filling meals included meatloaf, dumplings, steamed broccoli, fried okra, grilled chicken tenders with honey mustard and barbecue sauce, biscuits, and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream—excellent!
With satisfied appetites, we headed home, but we’re so glad to have a chance to feed our book lovers’ cravings at The Book Loft in Columbus! With a vast array of not only books, but also t-shirts, magnets, literary title bags, etc…, we found this bookstore to be packed wall to wall (32 rooms) for book lovers as a book paradise. An Edgar Allan Poe magnet, two books, and phases of the moon magnetic bookmarks came home with us. We also signed up for their free newsletter to learn about upcoming sales, events, and author visits.
What a great way to spend our Saturday together! It’s always a good time just to look around at these places, but when you find gems at a good price like we did, it adds to the thrill of the hunt. Another trip to Springfield is sure to be in our future.
Awesome!