NY Times: Billy’s Antiques and Props

Location Location Location. In Between Skid Row and Starbucks The New York Times profiles the unique establishment Billy’s Antiques and Props on the corner of Elizabeth and East Houston Streets. While we've never purchased anything from Billy, he has an eclectic eye and his finds are fun to browse...

Owner Billy Leroy sees his operation as a "...last vestige of the old New York," but we're curious how many $400 dressers ($40 in other parts of the country) he could sell a decade ago. His unique location may be the key to his success:

Billy’s has the advantage of sitting atop a large subway ventilation grate, which makes it difficult to build on the site. It is a turn of good fortune that has quite likely saved the place from developers’ dreams of condos, lofts or restaurants.

Who has has experience with Billy's? Leave your favorite finds in the comments! Via Racked.
(Photographs by Michael Simon)

Comments (5)

i often pass by there on the way to wholefoods for lunch, and there's usually something quirky, fun, or just plain lovely to behold. haven't made an actual purchase yet tho....

posted by k in ditmas on June 12th 2007 at 10:11am
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I bought a gorgeous black laquer mirror and an art deco bottle opener/corkscrew from a guy that shares the space(although I haven't seen him out there the last few times I've walked by). Both were reasonably priced.

posted by missmary on June 12th 2007 at 10:24am
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i bought a vintage leather chesterfield sofa here last summer. billy was very accommodating...held the sofa for a few days until i could find a van to borrow and cleaned it up before i came to retrieve it. it seemed reasonably priced compared to what i found on ebay.

posted by sara_gpt on June 12th 2007 at 11:57am
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love this place. i bought a pair of beautiful mustard arm chairs there. and there was a delivery guy (who seemed really really happy to have someone to talk to) who brought my chairs home 20 minutes after i bought them. hope this place sticks around, cause so many great vintage furniture stores in the east village have closed.

posted by cais on June 12th 2007 at 8:06pm
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I don't like this place. He tells you every piece of furniture is mahogany, even when it's clearly a piece of junk. And a lot of it is junk.

posted by Samantha S on June 13th 2007 at 2:07am
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