Toys of Yesteryear, owned by Julie DeLuca and her husband, Tom, is clean and inviting to kids big and small. In between lie bins of McDonald's Happy Meal toys, Pez dispensers and a legion of metal lunch boxes. Julie DeLuca sees all kinds of buyers, but more often than not, she meets people trying to buy back pieces of their childhood. I couldn't sell you something your dad had, because you wouldn't have the interest. The collectors just keep getting younger.
Matchbox cars are also in high demand.
Some childhood memories are pricier than others, it seems. A couple of doors down, Etcetera owner Isabel Haven oversees a shop that she's been running for close to 30 years. My last stop in Antique Square is Academy Fine Books and Antiques, which has it all, from Bibles and Hollywood biographies to dozens of Big Little Books. There are rare hardbacks, vintage paperbacks, autographs. If this place had garage sales and craft stores, my mother would call it heaven.