Whether you wish to fulfill your 2024 resolution of finding a new style (eclectic grandpa anyone), feed your trinket obsessions or just explore the shops of downtown Riverside in your free time, Mission Galleria Antiques is the place for you.
This whimsical antique store is a stark contrast to the more modern shops next to it. Stepping through its doors immediately whisks you to a never-ending world filled to the brim with antiques of all kinds. All four floors of Mission Galleria Antiques are packed with small porcelain figurines of bears, lamps made of moonshine mason jars, loud patterned jackets fitted with thick shoulder pads and the like. Jewelry displays are in abundance near the entrance, with glass displays boasting large silver rings adorned with giant jewels, and necklaces draped from shoulder to shoulder on mannequin busts. But at times you’ll spot a glimpse of modernity in the endless aisles of the past — something that seems out of place like a gray t-shirt with a “Squid Game” graphic, Funko Pops or the classic millennial mom signs with bad kitchen puns.
Opened around 1999, Mission Galleria Antique Shoppe contains over 100 vendors who come together to sell their products and finds from the past. The store is divided up by numerical space, giving each seller their own space, clearly labeled on their own laminated paper signs. In the rightmost corner of the store, one vendor specializes in rocks, crystals and old forms of monetary currency. Another sells antique items with a 21st century coquette aesthetic, like floral painted teapots or angelic porcelain children holding signs with slightly religious connotations.
Tony Larios, an employee at Riverside’s Main Street, was happy to recommend his favorite spots in the shop as he has a personal connection with it. His uncle helped build this store and he has worked here for about a year. As a Mission Galleria Antique Shoppe expert, he recommends looking at real antiques in Space 50 and visiting popular spaces like 2, 11, 48, 88 and 189.
To get around the store, you walk up and down red carpet-lined stairs, with slight creaks from the wooden floor that accent the feel of the historical goods lined in wooden shelves. With every new floor comes a new corner, a new space, a new shelf and a new piece of history to discover. Pieces of history that caught my eye were the American coins used in the Civil War during Lincoln’s presidency and German coins used in World War II as propaganda.
The shop also has endless aisles of antiques separated into different sections dedicated to holidays like Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Easter. Or, if the fourth floor piques your fancy, you’ll find two distinct sides to the same room; the left side is naturally lit by large windows spotlighting furniture like beautiful ornate lamps, while the right side is a vendor’s space filled with a wild assortment of vintage clothes. There are luxurious fur coats, colorful leather jackets, all the loud patterns you can dream of and enormously large society hats that look hand-picked from the Regency Era (a Bridgerton fan’s ultimate dream!).
To put it in the words of the Larios, “if you weren’t a history buff, here you become a history buff.” Even if you don’t convert, I think if you visit the Mission Galleria Antique Shoppe, you’ll at least become the newest casual participant of the eclectic grandpa style. Get sucked into this world of wonders and trinkets at 3700 Main Street in downtown Riverside, open Sunday to Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and until 9:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. This may become your new favorite weekend getaway, especially to relax and explore after those midterms.
