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St. Jacobs Antiques Market is a place of inspiration, style, and beautifully curated collections of vintage items. With over 100 talented vendors, it was hard to choose a favorite.
We passed through the Waterloo, Ontario, area on our way to a shoot recently and, with a little extra time on our hands, decided that it was an excellent opportunity to check out St. Jacobs Antique Market. I’ve followed several of the stylish booth operators there on Instagram for a while, so I was excited to see it all in person. Having visited other similar antique malls and mall-style antique markets, I didn’t have very high expectations, but I was amazed at what a beautiful and inspiring place this antique market turned out to be. I’m excited to give a little tour and show you what I saw!
Another must-visit antique center to shop at in Southwestern Ontario: Cobbletog Antique Market in London, Ontario
What Makes St. Jacobs a Great Antique Market
St. Jacobs Antiques is a mall-style antique shop, which means that there are aisles with different booths, which are operated by individual independent antique vendors. Mall-style antique dealers are antique shops that feel almost like a traditional flea market, but instead of each booth being made up of antiques and collectibles set out on a table, each stall is a little room with divider walls built between each vendor’s area. This setup can make for a really immersive antiquing experience, with each antique seller being able to create their own little world within the three walls of their booth using vintage furniture pieces, pottery, glassware, and various other home-furnishings.
One of the things that I had been specifically looking for was an antique business that specializes in mid-century modern furniture for Kennedy’s apartment, and unfortunately, there aren’t any mini showrooms like that currently in the market, but I did find so much more beauty, style, and inspiration than I was expecting in all the booths that are currently in place.
For a shopper looking to do a little treasure hunting and unearth a few hidden gems, St. Jacobs is an emporium that offers an eclectic antique dealer mix in a convenient under-one-roof experience for comfortable browsing rain or shine.
Sometimes, with antique malls, those that sell antiques take the opportunity to load their booth up with all kinds of vintage items and curiosities from top to bottom, but what I love about St. Jacobs is that so many of the stall owners take the opportunity to create beautifully decorated, unique shoppable spaces full of style and personality, as well as antique finds, collectables, and decor pieces.
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Getting to St. Jacobs Antiques
St. Jacobs is located just on the edge of the village of St. Jacobs, within the Waterloo region. If you’re looking for an antiquing adventure close to Toronto, this market is only about an hour’s drive away from downtown if traffic is light. St. Jacobs village is a popular tourist spot with shops, breweries, and a busy farmer’s market nearby. The antiques market is easy to find on a well-known main road, and you won’t have any issue locating the spot exactly when you put the address into your navigation system.
The market itself is a large, standalone warehouse space with a generously sized, spacious parking lot in front with free parking, so it’s easy to park your vehicle right out front and load up all your special thrift finds and hidden treasures when you’re done antique shopping.
We visited on a Monday afternoon, and it was fairly quiet around the market, but they’re open seven days a week, so I imagine weekends are much busier with all the weekend crowds of people looking to stroll through the market and see all the wares the antiques dealers have to offer in their individual galleries.
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How to Navigate the Antiques Mall
It can be quite easy to get turned around and distracted in an antique mall situation. Of course, wandering where your eye leads you is part of the fun, but following that urge can sometimes lead to missing out on entire sections of an antique shop. With new items coming in all the time, you really don’t want to miss a single square-foot of space. St. Jacobs Antiques market is conveniently laid out in three main aisles, and when you first enter the store, you’ll see the main checkout area, washrooms to your right, and a big arch leading you right to the center aisle.
We followed the arch and went through the middle aisle first, but now that I know the store’s layout, I would probably turn to the far left as soon as I entered through the main doors and go up and down the aisles of retailer booths from left to right. There is so much to see, and I never want to miss a single thing at an antique store, so I think this systematic approach is best and will lead to the least amount of distraction.
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Antique Items to Shop For
When I think of St. Jacobs, I first think of big, impressive pieces—the kinds of pieces you can build a room on, like major antique furnishing pieces, stunning framed fine-art portrait paintings, Victorian rare antiques, and vintage rugs.
If you like to decorate your home with antiques, this market is a treasure trove of inspiration. I loved seeing how the dealers arranged baskets, old books, lamps, ceramics, mirrors, and wall art in all the different booths. Some booths were quite grand, while others were charmingly quirky and quaint, filled with country antiques, shabby chic quilts, and primitives.
Visiting St. Jacobs is a great opportunity to find your favorite booth, purchase an item or two, and then use the way the booth was styled as inspiration for using your vintage finds in your own home.
Individual Vendor Information
It’s worth checking out some of the individual vendors who sell at St. Jacobs Antiques to get a feeling for what types of things you’ll see while visiting the market. I didn’t find information for all of the vendor booths pictured above, but here are some of my favorites that you should definitely get to know before your first visit.
- Gatherist
- Norris and Co
- House of Proper
- Sunday Home Living
- Chic Shack Antiques
- Mayson Home Decor
- Dia De Los Muertos
For antique lovers visiting the area, it’s very much worthwhile to add a visit to St Jacobs Antiques market to itineraries and travel plans.
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.