Tables lined up in rows are piled with things. People mill around to gaze at these items with curiosity, occasionally picking something up to examine it closer like a crow inspecting its glimmering prize. From antique metalwork and statues to vintage signs and plates, the options of finding a unique piece at a swap shop are nearly endless.

My love for swap shops and yard sales began early, thanks to my grandma. She loves to collect antique things. Whether it's a desk from the Great Depression Era or a light fixture from the Roaring Twenties, she always finds it. As a child, my family and I traveled up to a small town called Lake Placid to visit my grandparents. Every Sunday, residents gather in a vacant lot to set up the Raintree Market. Vendors arrive at dawn to build their tents and tables complete with their merchandise.

The Raintree was located right across from an orange grove, so the sweet smell of citrus wafted through the breeze in autumn. Sellers advertised fresh produce with the whirring of a blender for smoothies. My mom always made sure to pick out a few tomatoes or even a watermelon. The vegetables sold here were the juiciest and absolutely perfect for making BLT sandwiches. Raw honey cultivated locally was displayed in mason jars sparkling in the Florida sun. I found a collector selling old coins from different countries. For five dollars I bought an American penny from 1802. Other vendors brought vintage Coke bottles, fine China, and decorative vases from yesteryear. Walking through an antique bazaar is like walking back in time.

More recently, I visited the Swap Shop in Sunrise, South Florida. It was a sprawling flea market with people selling things you'd find on eBay in person. Shirts, sunglasses, candles, and kitchenware were everywhere. Unlike the quaintness of Lake Placid, this more modern market resembled a giant yard sale. There were a few antique places if you looked hard enough, but it was mostly everyday items for a very low price. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to shop through the hundreds of stores, but the antique market had a special milieu.

Hunting for vintage treasures is exciting because you often learn the history of your prize. That beautiful painting you just bought for eight dollars has been handed down from the artist himself to his family and now onto you or the fountain pen you now write with was used by a civil war general to communicate with Abraham Lincoln by letter. Besides, your newfound treasure could become an heirloom to your own family one day.

Swap shops provide the opportunity to comb through decades as you survey each nostalgic gem. An object now out-of-use could have a great memory behind it when presented to a grandparent. Things like washboards or sewing machines can spawn interesting conversations with older adults. Who knows, perhaps your treasure is just as valuable monetarily as it is sentimentally; you could be holding an antique worth a million dollars!

Antique shopping is usually done by senior citizens, but in our digital age, millennials are looking for items with tangible, unique significance. Everyone should go antique shopping at a flea market or swap shop at least once in their life. You are never too young to discover the treasures of yesteryear.