Adventures in shopping: Des Moines, Iowa

I went to Des Moines for the Fourth of July to visit my mom's family, and while I had every intention of solely devoting myself to family bonding, I found myself itching to shop almost immediately. This is because I had an inkling that the antique malls of Iowa would be laced with awesome finds—and I was right. The two main contenders, both conveniently close to the highway and to each other, are The Majestic Lion and The Brass Armadillo. The former has a lot more ambiance, slightly higher-quality stuff, and much friendlier service (The Brass Armadillo, which is a small chain, suffers from a frustrating dearth of staff at the cash-wrap), and there's an adjacent Flea Market space. I bought a trash bag full of late 18th-century clothing—pristine lace camisoles, hand-crocheted underskirts—for a song (no single piece was more than $30) at The Majestic Lion, and some old-world military photographs at The Brass Armadillo. And I seriously thought about taking home this taxidermied Goose from TML—it was pretty beautiful (about $300), so maybe someone who is reading this post wants to give it a home?

Meanwhile, if you're into something that's slightly more edited,try A-OK Antiques in Valley Junction (lined with similar sorts ofshops). It's offers a bonanza of mid-century modern home goods—muchlike Abodeon in Boston,but at more affordable prices. They had all-white cast-iron pots andpans, low-slung Danish coffee tables, plus tons of jewelry: I scored acopper necklace from the '40s and a hand-carved friendship bracelet(old-world names like Marlene and Ethel were etched into pieces ofsilver and then strung on ribbon). As far as straight up boutiques, themain contenders seem to be The Velvet Coat,which has two locations (one is in the super hip East Village area andthe other in Downtown) and Aimee. They were closed both times I walkedover, but The Velvet Coat sells everything from Mulberry totes to Dianevon Furstenberg dresses while Aimee specializes in nicely-affordablelabels like Wendy Mink and Velvet. The other two spots I wanted tocheck out (alas, stymied by holiday weekend hours) were Dorothea's Closet Vintage and Found Things.

I wish I had been there for a day longer so I could venture up to Iowa City (see our Shopping Guide here),but I might head back in August, in time for the Iowa State Fair. It'salways pretty incredible, but should be particularly amazing thissummer because they're carving a statue of Michael Jackson out of butter.