My holiday to San Francisco

Just a little review of the shops I went to while on holidays!

Jeffreys Toys-Really nice shop and easy to find.Not as many models as shown earlier in the year on this forum.Very few AAA and no Safari Ltd.Good collection of Collect A Dinosaurs but not much in the way of others models.Lots of Schleich but didn't see the the American release of the Hereford or Angus! .The display was very messy and haphazard and many of the models had marks/scratches on them.Many of the Schleich models were in a glass cabinet and locked away which I found strange as all the the others were not!Good collection of Breyer horses.

Ambassador Toys-Really nice shop and easy to find-Small and rather haphazard collection of Safari Ltd models but very good collection of their Dinosaurs.Some Safari Ltd tubes as well.Really great collection of Breyer-I had to walk away so prevent me from buying too much!!

Cliffs Variety Store-Small and haphazard collection of Safari Ltd models and Tubes.I went here as this was the very first place I bought Safari Ltd models in the 1990s

San Francisco Zoo-You can enter the shop here without going to the Zoo.Small collection of Safari Ltd models but large collection of Wild Republic models but all of the articulated type.

Rainforest Cafe-Collection of Wild Republic but again the articulated models.

Sausilito Ferry Company-Really nice store but mainly gifts, has a good collection of Safari Ltd tube animals which they have taken out of the tubes and sold individually.Also found hood hounds and other models there.

Found other models in various shops and gift shops in the city but the above were the main ones.

I hope you enjoyed your vacation! What did you bring back with you?

Did you find any antique shops, flea markets, or whatever, with vintage models?
Some lead 'dimestore' figures by Barclay or Manoil, or plastics by Marx perhaps?

I had a wonderful time!I managed to get quite a few models but need to take photos and get them on the site!
I did check out a lot of second hand/goodwill stores but didn't find any models which was disappointing!

Taos wrote:

I did check out a lot of second hand/goodwill stores but didn't find any models which was disappointing!

Disappointing indeed - especially as it was San Francisco, which I would have imagined is one of the American cities where there is, by US standards, being a touristy place and all, a greater than US cities normal number of antique/collector shops. Think of the nearest UK equivalent city to SF - Brighton.

If there are not even such shops in SF, I'm inclined to start believing the often ludicrously (by UK standards) high prices quoted for antiques/collectables/vintage/retro items on such US 'reality' shows as Storage Wars and Baggage Battles might actually be real.

That must have been very nice vocation! Even if there was some messy schleich shelves - hope you enjoyed!

Yes, Dave I would agree-I was surprised at the lack of second hand stores and also the lack of choice compared to the UK.Also the prices were quite high compared with the UK and the only really inexpensive things were the American brands which is to be expected.

A dream of a holiday

Good that you also had time for other things

DaveScriv wrote:

Taos wrote:

I did check out a lot of second hand/goodwill stores but didn't find any models which was disappointing!

Disappointing indeed - especially as it was San Francisco, which I would have imagined is one of the American cities where there is, by US standards, being a touristy place and all, a greater than US cities normal number of antique/collector shops. Think of the nearest UK equivalent city to SF - Brighton.

If there are not even such shops in SF, I'm inclined to start believing the often ludicrously (by UK standards) high prices quoted for antiques/collectables/vintage/retro items on such US 'reality' shows as Storage Wars and Baggage Battles might actually be real.    

I lived 14 years in San Francisco and still visit there regularly, but there are surprisingly few antique stores, etc. there. I've never found any worthwhile figurines in such venues there, but have had some luck at flea markets. Antiques and vintage/retro items are extremely expensive nowadays, but as always, if one is willing to be patient and look around, a better price can often be found eventually...

I've actually had better luck at antique stores here in the Sacramento area, but I think it's all really hit and miss. Maybe we are all destined to find certain figurines, but not others...?!

I hope you had a great time there:)