Yet another layer to the “American Pickers” feud between Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz has revealed itself. It turns out Fritz’s antique shop can’t hold a candle to the Antique Archaeology stores run by Wolfe. If internet reviews are to be trusted wholeheartedly, that is.
For those not as familiar with the inner workings of “American Pickers,” the show featured two colleagues as they made their way around the country in search of valuable antiques. Mike Wolfe is the mastermind behind the show, and he operated an antique store called Antique Archaeology before the History channel series ever took off.
Frank, on the other hand, joined the show after Mike did the majority of the groundwork. He established his own antique store around the time that the show really hit its stride. The name of his place is Frank Fritz Finds. It’s located in Savanna, Illinois, right on the border with Iowa.
While neither of the brick-and-mortar stores enjoys unanimous praise, Frank Fritz Finds has received a fair bit of criticism for being little more than the back room of an operating restaurant. What’s more, it doesn’t even look like Fritz has an active business license for the still-operating business.
Per the Illinois Secretary of State, as reported by The Sun, Frank Fritz Finds’ business license was dissolved because the state didn’t receive a report from the store in 2017. That in itself doesn’t bode particularly well for Fritz’s store.
Visitors Review The ‘American Pickers’ Antique Shops
While it would certainly appear that Mike Wolfe has invested more time and effort in his stores, we can only go on the reviews of people who have actually been to these places. Folks didn’t mince any words when it came to Frank Fritz Finds, either.
“Save yourself from this place. It is an extremely small antique store that you need to enter through a restaurant,” a Google review reads.
“Nothing great about it. You need to walk back by the bar. You feel like you are walking into the kitchen area of the restaurant only to open a door to a storage room that is filled with junk with layers and layers of dust on it. Nothing is organized. If you wanted to buy anything that you do find you have to take it to the bar to buy. Very, very weird. I will not go there again for the antique shopping,” another recent Google review adds.
On the other side, the reviews of Mike Wolfe’s stores aren’t exactly shining, but the criticism came for completely different reasons.
“I felt like they sold more of their own [swag] than their picks. It didn’t seem like they had a lot of their picked items here, possibly more of a tourist spot than a place where people appreciate the picks? Either way, a must see if you’re in Nashville,” one Yelp review read.
The consensus was that Antique Archaeology is worth visiting, but mostly as a destination for fans of “American Pickers.” Apparently, it’s not the best place to go if you’re a serious antique collector looking for some business.
