The Best Antique Towns in Texas

A town of about 90 people that turns into the centre of the American antiques trade twice a year. The original show started in 1968 and now stretches over 11 miles on either side of State Highway 237, with more than 65 venues inside roughly a 20 mile radius taking in Round Top, Warrenton, Carmine, Burton and Fayetteville.

The thing to understand is that there is no governing body. Every tent, barn and field is independently owned and sets its own dates, which is why the "show dates" you see quoted vary. The anchor is the Original Round Top Antiques Fair at the Big Red Barn in Carmine, which runs October 26 to 31 in 2026 with Designer Day on the 25th. General admission there is $10 and VIP early access is $25, and either ticket covers all six days.

First Monday Trade Days has run in some form since 1850 and now covers 450 acres with over 5,000 vendors, which makes it the largest single antiques and flea market event in the state and arguably anywhere. It happens every month rather than twice a year, so you do not have to plan a trip around a season.

Be honest with yourself about what it is. Canton mixes genuine antiques and architectural salvage with new import goods, boutique clothing and food stalls, and the ratio shifts depending on which pavilion you are standing in. Serious furniture and primitives hunters tend to work the older ground near First Monday Lane and skip the newer sections entirely.

The only town on this list with a statutory claim. On May 24, 1995, the Texas House of Representatives of the 74th Legislature designated Gladewater the Antique Capital of East Texas, recognising what had happened downtown after the oil money receded. Beth and Cecil Bishop bought an empty storefront in 1986, opened the Gladewater Antique Mall, and talked other dealers into filling the rest of the block.

Today a few dozen shops carrying goods from more than 100 vendors sit within about two walkable blocks of Commerce Avenue, including the original Gladewater Antique Mall at 100 East Commerce, the Round-Up Antique Mall at 109 West Commerce, and Yesterday's Treasures. This is the best town in Texas for antiquing on a regular weekend with no event attached, which is a different and more useful thing than being the biggest.

The visitors bureau counts twelve stores for antiquing, junking and picking downtown, and they are arranged around one of the best looking courthouse squares in Texas. The 1895 Ellis County Courthouse in the middle of it is the reason film crews keep showing up and the reason the square never got torn down.

Old Town Village Antiques and Uniques is the three floor mall, Gingerbread Antiques runs about 7,000 square feet, and Atelier Antiques is the newest addition with a book shop and coffee attached. Waxahachie also sits at one end of Antique Alley Texas, the shopping trail that runs the third weekend of April and September.

Comfort has one of the best preserved historic districts in the state, with more than 100 nineteenth century buildings and 26 historical markers, and the shopping sits inside those buildings rather than in a strip beside them. High Street is the spine, and it carries no chains at all.

The anchor is the Comfort Antique Mall at 734 High Street, about 8,000 square feet with roughly 30 dealers, open daily. Around it sit Salvaged Souls Vintage Market at 702 Front Street for reclaimed and architectural pieces, the 8th Street Market in a converted 1940s Ford dealership, and Vintage Comfort on Seventh. It is the most pleasant town on this list to spend a whole day in whether or not you buy anything.

Mineola is the East Texas town that rewards an afternoon rather than a weekend. Uniques and Antiques at 124 South Line Street is the heavy hitter, roughly 7,000 square feet on two levels with more than 50 vendors, and it is the largest mall of its kind in the immediate area.

From there Broad Street gives you Between Friends at 114 East Broad for lighting, glassware and architectural salvage, LW Antiques at 124 East Broad, and several smaller shops within a few doors. The recurring Mineola Antique Fair at 115 Lankford Street adds outdoor vendors on its weekends. We have a longer piece on the best antique shops in Mineola if you want the shop by shop version.

Jefferson was the largest inland port in Texas until the river traffic left, and the town kept its buildings because it stopped having reasons to replace them. The official tourism directory lists nine antique dealers, clustered tight on Austin, Polk and Walnut Streets.

Old Mill Antiques at 210 East Austin is the one to build the day around, over 22,000 square feet in a building that was the riverboat wharf in 1910 and a feed mill after that, trading as an antique store since 1970. Golden Leaf Antique Mall on North Polk and Jefferson Antique Mall on North Walnut are the other multi dealer stops. Pair it with the rest of what there is to do in Jefferson, because the shopping alone will not fill a weekend.

Fredericksburg is where you go when you are buying rather than hunting. Main Street carries the Antique Mall of Fredericksburg, Vintage Vault, Johnson Newman Antiques, Farm Haus, Hill Country Trading Post and Red Baron, and the Warehouse District a block south holds the serious money, including Carol Hicks Bolton Antiquities and Larry Jackson Fine Art and Antiques.

The counterweight to those prices is Fredericksburg Trade Days at Sunday Farms, which puts over 400 vendors in seven barns plus open acreage the weekend of the third Saturday every month, with $5 parking. The same trip gives you everything else in Fredericksburg, which is more than most towns this size can say.

The best antiquing in Texas that does not require leaving a metro area. Antique Company Mall at 213 East Virginia Street is two floors and more than 15,000 square feet with over 100 dealers, open seven days a week, and it holds dealers to stocking at least 80 percent genuinely vintage goods, which is more quality control than most malls bother with.

The square around it carries dozens more independent shops and galleries. Third Monday Trade Days at 4550 West University Drive is the complicated part of McKinney's story. It closed permanently at the end of 2021 after the Lewis family sold up, then came back under new operators, and it is posting a 2026 schedule of Friday through Sunday before the third Monday, free admission with $5 parking on the weekend.

Salado earns its place as the easiest stop on this list rather than the deepest. Six antique dealers appear on the official village directory, set among roughly 60 shops, galleries and boutiques along Main Street and Stagecoach Road, so it is a mixed browse rather than a dedicated hunt.

Village Mill Antiques at 702 North Main carries 35 or more vendors under one roof and is the main event. Antique Rose of Bell at 402 North Main sits in an 1885 house and opens Friday through Sunday on short hours, and Fletcher's Books and Antiques at 944 North Main is the one for paper and rare books. Salado Antique Mall and Salado Creek Antiques are both out on Stagecoach Road.