The 75th annual Glen Ridge Antiques Show, sponsored by the Women’s Association at Glen Ridge Congregational Church, was a big success, according to its promoter, Debbie Turi, who was also a dealer on the floor. The event, which had been postponed from February, was held Saturday and Sunday, March 26 and 27, at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church. This event marked the show’s first return since February 2020, after which it took a hiatus due to the pandemic.
“We probably had a record gate this year,” Turi said in an interview with The Glen Ridge Paper following the show. “But we changed the days from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday.”
Some of Turi’s regular dealers could not attend because of the rescheduling. Nonetheless, 31 dealers did arrive; 10 were new to the show, which is heralded as the longest, continually running antiques show in New Jersey. Turi, in the antiques business for nearly 30 years, agreed to its preeminence.
“It’s possibly the longest show in the country,” she said. “We can’t prove it, but speaking to reporters from antique magazines, they don’t know of one that’s longer.”
As a promoter, Turi has the job of getting dealers in and out the door; making sure they have everything they need, including tables, electrical wiring and porters; and handling advertising. She begins planning for a Glen Ridge Antiques Show in August of the preceding year.
“There’s something about targeting an audience through digital marketing,” she said. “And we’re reaching out to a wide audience, getting people from about two hours out.”
Turi said the sponsors, because of tradition, would like to continue with alerting people about the show via snail mail, aka the post office and licked stamps.
“Think about it,” she continued. “That mail has to be printed, sorted and stamped. What’s a stamp cost? Fifty cents? I’d rather use the money for other advertising.”
Turi said she is trying to bring the Glen Ridge Antiques Show into the 21st century by targeting attendees ages 35 to 65.
“That’s the current buying public for antiques,” she said. “This year, there were a lot of different things on the floor. It was not their grandma’s show. There were things you couldn’t find everywhere. The business has changed, and it will again. I’m trying to stay on top of it, and we possibly had a record gate this year.”
Turi began promoting antique shows eight years ago out of necessity. Once upon a time, she did 32 shows a year as a dealer. She is now down to eight a year.
“I saw that shows were dying off,” she said. “Apparently, I’m good at promoting, judging by gate and attendance.”
Among the returning dealers with longevity were Aunties Estate and Moving Sales, Green Village, 22 years; Cindikit Antiques and Collectibles, Harrington Park, 25 years; and Debbie Turi Antiques, Roseland, 19 years. According to Turi, most dealers were local or from no more than 45 minutes away, though others traveled from upstate New York; Lancaster, Pa.; Maryland; and Connecticut.
At the show, Turi said vintage clothing sold well, as did furniture. Younger buyers gravitated to the clothing displays.
“People are downsizing and there’s a lot to buy,” Turi said. “There were online antique shows during COVID, but they are starting to wane. People want to touch items.”
In past years, the Glen Ridge show had an appraiser to provide people, for a price, with an idea of the worth of an antique.
“I’m not a believer in appraisers,” Turi said. “Appraisers want to buy. They’ll give the person a low appraisal and then tell the person to call them. They try to buy what comes in the door and try to buy it on the sly. That’s not right. It’s unethical.”
With the delay of the show into late March, Turi was surprised there wasn’t more garden furniture for sale.
“Right now, furniture is selling,” she said. “I don’t see a downside to the market. Porcelain, jewelry, bric-a-brac, everything across the board is selling.”
Photos by Daniel Jackovino
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