If you haven’t been to Mantorville Square for a while, you should plan to make a trip soon. We have been stocking up this winter with new showcases, new estate finds, and new products. We are now featuring “Jody’s Popcorn” along with new books, candles, garden decor and lots more. With the warmer weather, it will be nice to get out and see what’s new at Mantorville Square. See you soon..

Did you know that Mantorville Square has vintage Halloween items and toy farm machinery?

Mantorville Square has candles, greeting cards, rugs, and now a line of books including a number of topical Minnesota books. See more pictures in our gallery

The sun is shining and that makes everybody think about Spring and new beginnings. We’ve been to the first Gift Market for 2012 and we are looking forward to a really good year. We have added some new product lines and expanded some of our other lines. In addition, our antique dealers continue to bring in lots of interesting items.

Some of our new additions: Leanin’ Tree cards, Christian greeting cards, new Park textiles that make excellent gifts, a new line of rugs. And for those of you that can’t wait to get into the garden, we have plenty of new cast iron garden decor.

For our new and old antique lovers, we have several new vendors. We now have vintage farm toys, a selection of clocks, several nice saxophones, more vintage clothing,and an outstanding kitchen range.

As always, we have many cases of fine glassware, lots of beautiful furniture, pottery and primitives.

Stop in an see us when you can.

Hello and Happy New Year to you all.  As I promised, we are going to start featuring vendors and booths in our blog posts this year.  The first booth that we will feature belongs to vendor #28.  This vendor is a knowledgeable pottery collector and the booth features a wide variety of fine pottery.  The first photo is an overall view of booth #28, showing cases and shelves overflowing.  The next photo features a large Stangl pitcher with a fruit design, in front of that is a Bauer Pottery butter dish.  In the right foreground is a Wade “Lady” figure from Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp”.  The creamers to the left of the butter dish are Pennsbury Pottery.  In the next (middle) photo, at the right rear of the shelf is a beautiful Doulton “Flambe” bowl. Next to the “Flambe” piece are two Royal Doulton figurines.  The eagle is Goebel.  In the foreground are JFK and Jackie salt & peppers, and the cat is Orrefors glass.  In the next picture, you can see a Maddux horse TV lamp, a 50’s lamp with a bird figure inside the open base.  Next is a Red Wing Art Pottery vase, an Alladin lamp, and finally a Waterford crystal boudoir lamp.  In the final picture you can see at upper right Franciscan “Apple” dinnerware, in the center a purple RumRill vase, and at the left are several pieces of Blue Ridge Pottery.  If you are at all interested in pottery, come to Mantorville Square for an educational experience.  You will see pieces in booth #28 that you may not see anywhere else in Minnesota.  Stop in when you can and let us know if you have seen us on our website. 

I grew up in the time before computers.  Then , when computers arrived,  I was one of  the people who tried to resist learning about them.  I guess that I still have a love/hate relationship with technology and even though I realize the importance of blogging as a way of communicating with the public,  it is really difficult for me to have the discipline to make regular posts on our website.  I know that there are so many interesting things that we could write about on our blog, and yet it is still hard to get these things down in words.  We have over 20 dealers at Mantorville Square and each one has their own particular specialties.  I hope to feature some of these dealers and their treasures this year here on the Mantorville Square website.  I also hope to use the website to keep people informed about special activities as they come up in Mantorville, Wasioja, and the surrounding area. 
Now for a few words about the pictures at the top of this posting.  These pictures are from the first booth you see as you enter Mantorville Square.  This booth features some really excellent primitives.  These pictures were taken a while ago, but you can get the flavor of what the booth has to offer.  You can see the wide variety of stoneware, advertising tins, crocks, and kitchenware  If you look closely at the pictures, you will see a cast iron threshing machine that was probably a little boy’s delight about 100 years ago.  It is just like taking a walk back in time to come into Mantorville Square and see what our dealers have to offer.  I am planning to take some detailed pictures in various booths and share them with you here, so be sure to bookmark the site and visit it occasionally and write a complaint if we aren’t posting often enough.  Happy New Year
 

  Even the shoppers were elegant!!

We had such a good time at the Ladies’ Shopping Night last week that we are going to have a Men’s Last Minute Shopping night this Thursday, December 23 from 5:00PM-9:00PM.  This is a time for last minute shoppers to come down to Mantorville Square and let us help you pick out last minute presents for your wife, your girlfriend, your wife and your girlfriend, your sister, your friends at work, or anybody else you need a present for.  Then while register for door prizes and sit and enjoy a snack and refreshments, we will gift wrap your presents.  Perhaps your significant other has already come in to Mantorville Square and registered with us to take the guesswork out of your shopping.  We have a wide variety of great gift ideas waiting for you.  Who says last minute shopping has to be stressful?  Come to Mantorville and enjoy relaxed shopping and free (and really close) parking.  See you Thursday.

Are you already tired of going to the big malls and looking for presents? Do you need a break from high-stress shopping? If so, please keep reading.  If you have been meaning to come to Mantorville to check out our store, then this is the perfect time.  This Thursday, December 16, we will be hosting a Ladies’ Shopping Night at Mantorville Square from 6:00 – 9:00 PM.  Our knowledgeable and tuxedo-clad staff will be available to serve you wine and cheese and assist you as you shop for presents for your significant other, your friends, or for yourself.  Choose from our wide selection of antiques, collectibles, decor, garden items, candles, Hagen-Renaker figurines, vintage jewelry, pottery, pictures, vintage clothing, vintage dollhouse furniture, Scandinavian items, beer pitchers, barware collecibles, sports memorabilia, vintage Christmas ornaments and decorations, books of all kinds from baseball and Tom Clancy to the Kama Sutra.  We will have gift wish-list sheets where you can sign up and persuade your significant other to attend our Men’s Last Minute Shopping Night on Thursday, December 23.  We accept Visa and Mastercard.  Sign up for door prizes. There is lots of free parking.  We will even carry your purchases to your car (see if you can find that at a big mall).  We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday.  Bring your friends!!

We are into the bright part of Winter, the days are starting to get longer, and everyone is getting restless to get out of the house.  Why not come out to Mantorville?  Our window is filled with Mission and Prairie Style antiques.  We try to feature different themes in our window to give you an idea of what is inside the Square.  Right now, we are featuring this grand cylinder desk at the reduced price of $3,500!! It is well over 100 years old and comes with interesting provenance.  Also pictured are a number of Indian artifacts from Rice County, MN.  We have a wide selection of antiques and gifts.  We have a wide selection of vintage clothing and also a lot of interesting and unusual books on hand.  One of my favorites is “With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple”, a vintage 1906 book by missionary Susie Rijnhart.  Come down and browse, it is warm inside our spacious store, with wide aisles and places to sit.  Be sure to leave enough time to visit the other shops and restaurants in Mantorville.