Road Trip to Corning, NY

For my parents' 31st anniversary, we hopped in the car from Syracuse, NY and headed down Seneca Lake. We stopped at several small-scale antique stores, and 3-4 wineries (we particularly liked Magnus Winery- impressive stonework, great wines, and friendly service). On the road, we also spotted a very rare abino deer!! Anyways, the further we went, the more we thought- Let's keep going through Watkins Glenn, and head toward Corning!

A stop in Watkins Glenn led me to a second-hand store which boasted "All proceeds benefit the Humane Society". Blue striped bowl and little creamer = $7 total, Sold! I didn't question the idea of haggling because the animals deserve it (pictured below after a nice clean-up job). Once in Corning, we headed straight to Market Street, their main hub for antiquing according to my online searches.

 Market Street was very quaint, trendy and active! Alot of local traffic and plenty of pickers. Beautiful area, and fun day trip. But to my surprise, the antique stores did not feature their local goods in any particular way. I dreamed of original metal and wooden displays, unique pieces, and walls filled with piece after piece. But, like many antique stores, pieces were random around the store- seperated probably due to having many vendors in one location. Being the birth place of Pyrex, Corning & Corelle,  my expectations may have been too high. But, never fear, there was still alot to dig through!
 

Surprisingly, I found alot of pink pyrex in Corning. The utility dish = $22, and the small casserole = $18. I thought this was a bit pricey, but I haven't been able to find these in Syracuse, so I picked them up for my friend. They weren't exactly clean either... my mother used the magic eraser, Barkeeper's Friend... and (don't try this at home, kids) a screwdriver.

I have tried to stick to collecting turquoise only, which was available throughout Market Street shops. However, I have all of those pieces already. To my dismay, my trip to Corning still leaves me without the amish butter dish, dip bowl & hanger, and the atomic star utility. I wanted another 2 striped blue bowls like I found above, but she wanted $18 each FIRM!!  Ludacris!

Interesting tid-bit: one antique dealer told me that a woman recently came to her shop from Canada, and purchased $700 worth of Pyrex because it was not available by her. To resell? For personal collection? I don't know... but, word is spreading and Pyrex is popular & more and more pricey!

Moral of the story, Corning will not disappoint in the sense that they do indeed carry alot of Pyrex. Maybe I need to venture further to find my fantasy Pyrex walls? Either way, I don't regret the trip and will plan to go back again later in the summer!

<3,
Christina
Belle of the Blog