The Auburn Novelty Shop is hard to miss: standing at five stories tall, this brick warehouse in the heart of Auburn is one of only two antique stores in L/A alongside the more well-known Orphan Annie’s. I first learned about the Novelty Shop from a senior who frequented the business for old editions of classic novels. The store seemed to compliment the idyllic New England lifestyle I had pictured, which convinced me—in a somewhat deranged state of mind—to pick up my life in Texas and drop it in Maine. I had to see it for myself.
While conducting preliminary research, I discovered that the Auburn Novelty Shop is actually the sister location of Orphan Annie’s, which suggests the existence of a local monopoly on antiques. I would soon find out, however, that both stores offer very different experiences.
Unlike Orphan Annie’s, the Novelty Shop has quite irregular hours, open for only a slim three-hour window every week: Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. That’s it.
Given that the shop has five floors packed wall-to-wall with antiques, you’d probably need several weeks of Monday excursions to explore it in its entirety. Two friends and I arrived at about noon, giving us only an hour before closing. We made it through about 1.5 floors. But despite these limited hours and what seemed to be relatively few customers, I counted at least five employees milling about between the dusty cabinets—all happily answering questions and expounding upon their knowledge of antiques. I assume they were volunteers because I can’t imagine this kind of business model is profitable otherwise, but they were very helpful and attentive. A+ customer service.
Most of my time was spent in the clothing and magazine sections. The clothes were all veritably ancient but came with defects. My friend considered buying one of those thin leather jackets which doesn’t keep you warm at all, but decided against it after finding out it was $20. I ended up purchasing a warm trench coat made of wool, which was also $20. Quality-wise, those are very different items, so my working theory is that all of the clothes are $20. Test it out for yourself.
After scouring the 1.5 floors, I was left with the trench coat, a makeup compact adorned with horses, and two postcards. I checked out with one of the workers, who (embarrassingly) pointed out that I was just at Orphan Annie’s last week. I left the store with so many questions — why were their hours so limited? Were all of the clothes $20? Was this business model even profitable? A front for the L/A mob? Just kidding. Probably. Just kidding?
Overall, visiting the Auburn Novelty Shop was a strange but warm experience. I was pretty satisfied with the selection of clothing, but it was quite disorganized and would require a fast pair of hands to sort through it all in the three hours that the store is open. As for my trench coat, it’s kept me warm through several weekends of walking across campus in 30-degree weather for the Halloween Bash, MOSH! Launch Concert, Snowball, etc. so I don’t regret my $20 splurge.
Unfortunately I can’t speak to the quality of my compact, because as soon as I got home I dropped and shattered it. So, all I can say is: not too sturdy.
