Website and Admin

Here we are again! Statewide lockdown to try and restrict the spread of COVID while the population moves towards a level of vaccination rates that will allow us to re-open.

From 6th August 2021 all 3 Antique Toy World locations are closed for the duration of the Victorian lockdown. No opening date is known as yet.

Our website and ebay sales are available and we are able to provide mail order shipments 5 days a week.

The current Melbourne lockdown for COVID, lockdown #4, was meant to last a week, so we did not provide an update on the website. But…. that lockdown has now extended for another week, so this update will hopefully clarify the rules and our situation.

If attending any of our market stalls, you must wear a face mask, and you must ‘sign-in’ with the Services Victoria app using the appropriate QR code on your phone, or register if you do not have a phone.

Our Amazing Mill Markets stall at Ballarat is open. Face Masks must be worn. As we live in Melbourne we cannot currently attend that store but hopefully that will change later in June 2021. The friendly staff at the Mill will be able to assist you.

Our Camberwell Antique Centre stall is open. Face Masks must be worn. While we live in Melbourne, Camberwell is just on 25km from our home and the current restrictions impost a 25km limit on our travel, so we may not be able to travel to this store either, but hopefully that will be ok from next week. The friendly staff at Camberwell Antiques will be able to assist you. Say Hi to Doug, Tanya, Peter or Rosemarie.

Yarra Glen Antique Centre is able to open within COVID restrictions, but is currently cut-off from Melbourne due to the storm events this week. The Yarra River flooding cuts the main road from Lilydale / Coldstream into Yarra Glen, and the store is also without power. The centre is hopeful that they can re-open on Monday June 14th and the friendly staff will be available to assist you.

Our website is operating, except we have been handicapped by the same weather events and have been without mobile phone reception or internet since Wednesday 9th June 2021. Hopefully that will be resolved by Tuesday, as it has delayed us from even viewing new sales orders. Just to cap it off, Monday is a public holiday in Melbourne, meaning that the Post Office will be closed and our next mailing day will be Tuesday 15th June.

Thanks to all our customers for your patience and please stay safe in this COVID-infected environment.

cheers

Peta & Tony

Update November 2020: Lockdown Stage 4 is now behind us for Victoria Australia and all our stores are now open again. Our website and our mail-order services are also available.

Yarra Valley Antiques at Yarra Glen

Camberwell Antique Centre Cookson Street Camberwell

and at the Ballarat Mill Markets with our new store area with another 8 cabinets of toys for you to enjoy.

Our website is operational and we can provide mail order delivery.

Antique Toy World is available via phone or our Contact page. We are still buying and selling with no contact collection available.

One of two common queries is ‘Where is the old site?’ and the answer is that it is hidden as it is broken.

We will hopefully extract the old photos at some time, but we are focused on getting new listings into the new site.

The other common question relates to the old site and was an item sold or still available? For many months we had issues with trying to update the old the site to flag sold items.

In the end it is easier for us to drop the old site (not working in any case) and start with a fresh look at our stock.

All the current items listed as 1 in stock, is accurate and available right now for purchase. If it is sold it is out of stock and hidden from view automatically. We might configure the system to allow for an archive of sold items, but not yet.

Stay home and Stay safe!

As with most people and businesses globally there is the Impact of Coronavirus COVID-19 for Antique Toy World.

Currently all 3 of our market locations are closed until further notice.

We are still posting Australian and International parcels where possible.

Australia Post are not accepting parcels for some countries as they are unable to book flights to those countries.

As an example we know from experience that parcels sent to Spain in February are still sitting in Spanish customs at Madrid (last checked April 8th 2020).

Where-ever you live, if you have any concern about a delivery, please use Contact Us form to send an email. We will try to help, even if that is just to put an item on hold for you until things return to whatever will be normal in the future.

Stay safe !

Finally, we have deployed the new site. It is still a construction zone, but the old site was dying and a recent server patch messed the old site up. It was a faithful site for almost 15 years, but it has now retired.

As we progress over the next few weeks, our main goal is more stock listings, and basic functions. The site design is basic, very basic. We might improve that in time, but we think the toys will speak for themselves.

If there is something specific you are chasing please use the Contact Us form and we will be in touch asap.

Welcome to Antique Toy World.

This is my first blog post in the new site. It has taken a year to get to this stage.

We bought Antique Toy World from Peter back in April 2019 and while the plan was to migrate the website immediately a lot of other stuff has happened in the interim.

And the biggest is the impact of this global virus shock!

Watch for more activity as we work through this new site and get more toys and childrens pastimes listed for your enjoyment.