Cobbletog Antiques in London, Ontario is an amazing vintage emporium to visit for an afternoon of treasure hunting. Today I’m sharing a little about my visit and my tips for making the most of your time at this wonderful shop.
I discovered Cobbletog Antiques in London, Ontario, a few weeks ago, and I was just so happy with my experience there that I had to put together a full blog post about it, especially after getting so many questions when I shared a few photos from my trip on Instagram. Up until about a month ago, I had no idea that an antique shop like this existed in our area and I was so thrilled to learn that this one is only an easy hour’s drive away for me. I’ve been to quite a few different antique markets, flea markets, and vintage secondhand shops over the years, but Cobbletog was particularly impressive compared to a lot of others I’ve been to for a few different reasons. If you’re someone who’s always interested in finding new Ontario antique markets for antiques and collectibles, or if you just always like to peek in on other people’s thrifting and antiquing adventures, today’s post is for you.
What Makes Cobbletog Antiques a Great Vintage Market?
Size
After finding Cobbletog antique mall online while searching for local antiques dealers and antique shops for vintage finds, I was curious to pop in and check them out, so I took a couple of my neighbors along on an afternoon adventure. I anticipated that we would browse for about an hour and then return home, but it actually took us about two-and-a-half hours to look through all the collectible wares, one of a kind antique furniture pieces, and quirky retro curiosities in the shop. We were trying to keep things casual for this first browsing visit and weren’t there with the intention of making any major purchases, but there was just so much to see on every surface and in every corner. It truly feels like the market goes on forever.
Quality and Selection
You’ll find a mix of just about everything at Cobbletog Market. The focus is on vintage items and antiques, but you’ll even find some new furniture pieces, mid-century modern memorabilia, and other odds and ends peeking out of the stacks of older items. Because of the size of the shop, they just have so much stock, so it’s likely that if you’re looking for a particular item, you’ll find more than just one. For instance, I was lucky to have recently picked up a vintage wicker bicycle basket at a local thrift store, and I just loved it. I told myself that if I ever came across another, I would buy it right away. I came across two at Cobbletog and I wasn’t really even looking for them. I was also so pleased to see so many actual quality antique items and collectibles, not just a lot of supposedly vintage pieces that may or may not have come from a dollar store 25 years ago like you sometimes come across.
Price Point
I was a little in awe of the bargain prices at Cobbletog, to be honest. It’s rare to come across a place selling just what you were looking for without the big markups that come from shopping a very curated vintage shop or with online vintage shopping. For instance, I’ve always wanted a vintage silver trophy and had been watching some online that were listed between $60-$100. I was never quite able to bring myself to order them or pay the shipping fees, but I found the cutest little antique silver trophy from 1952 at Cobbletog for $20. It’s truly an artifact of a bygone era and I was so thrilled to come across it. I would say the price points overall are just a little higher than current thrift store prices, but of course, the quality of collector items and rare antiques you’ll find is much better than what you find on your usual thrift shopping trip. The vintage brass banker’s lamp pictured below came home with me as well!
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Getting to Cobbletog Antique Market
Cobbletog Market is easily accessible by car, not far from the 401 highway in London, Ontario. London is located in Southwestern Ontario, about two hours from Toronto and also about two hours from Windsor. The parking lot isn’t huge and it’s shared with another business, but we were there on a Saturday afternoon during March break in Ontario, and we didn’t have any trouble finding a spot. I imagine that weekends are much busier than weekdays, as they are with most antiques businesses. The area where this shop is located is more of an industrial area than an urban one, so you won’t need to worry about street parking or finding a paid city parking lot to park in.
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How to Navigate the Shop
When you first enter the antique store, you’ll come through a narrow passageway and you’ll see the front desk and checkout area on your right, which is loaded up with all kinds of reproduction and primitive treasures to the point that you might not even realize it’s there. Once you get past this section, you’ll see that you’re able to turn right into one warehouse space or left into the other. We started by navigating the space on the right because it seemed a bit smaller.
The first warehouse on the right is just one big open room and you’ll find a mix of all different types of items from furniture, wall art, mirrors, dishes, glassware, lamps and other smaller decorative items.
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When you move into the second warehouse, you’ll find more of all these same pieces, but you’ll also come across several little rooms that you can wander in and out of with groupings of collections of similar items, which can be very exciting to come across if you’re looking for something particular.
I found a room with a table piled high with vintage prints and art deco ephemera, a room of old vinyl records, one wall filled with stacks and stacks of old books, and a room of the most beautiful old frames. Some pieces are rustic and stained, others are in immaculate condition. There was even a section of antique tools, which I resisted exploring, but which made me a little excited at the possibility of maybe finding some old garden tools so I could relive the old Martha Stewart Living episode where she geeks out with a fellow gardener over a collection of vintage garden tools.
More vintage style home decor ideas for your home: DIY Vintage Style Framed Prints
Treasures to Find at Cobbletog Antiques
I highly recommend that you check out Cobbletog Antiques’ social media profiles on both Instagram and Facebook before your shopping-experience to get a good idea of what kind of treasures you’ll find while you’re there. The owner does an amazing job of maintaining a great social media presence with little videos scanning the room and individual items that come in. What’s posted on each platform is often different, so it’s a fun preview to look at both.
My first impression was that Cobbletog is a place to go to look for smaller decorative items, because you won’t find a section with large furniture pieces lined up in rows one after the other, but in fact, upon reviewing my photos, I realized that there was more furniture than I first noticed because nearly all of the smaller items are displayed on furniture items that are for sale. Expect to see a mix of furnishings in a more refined, polished state, as well as some early American country furniture.
My favorite finds included beautiful rattan baskets, large and small, around every corner, framed photos and old prints displayed on every wall, lots of small brass items like candlesticks and little trays, stacks of old leather luggage, and heavy antique ceramics and pottery pieces. My friends and I got a little too excited when we found a bin full of vintage brass and silver napkin rings. I might need to go back for those.
There were some heavy wood bookends and a low cast iron plant stand that I’m kicking myself for not buying right now, but there always seem to be a few that get away, no matter how well you do when you’re out vintage shopping.
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If you think you’d like to visit Cobbletog Antiques, I hope this post was helpful and gave you a little bit of inspiration for what to search for!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.