7 Days a Week by Appointment
Ideal for the antiques trade, our Antiques Diva Buying Tours in the south of France are one-on-one fully guided antique sourcing tours. We custom plan your route and drive. We translate, negotiate, and liaise antique buyers with international shippers.
While you can book 1 day antiquing in Provence, we suggest maximizing your time by booking a multi-day itinerary sourcing the antiques markets, warehouses, and by-appointment only antiques stores in the Luberon, Var, Vaucluse, and Cote d’Azur.
The coastline in the south of France runs more than 550 miles. This is the most densely packed area to source antiques not only in France – but the world. You could spend weeks looking for the right source. But when you tell us what you are looking for – we take you straight to the vendors who are most likely to have the style you are looking for, and we make sure you are having fun – sharing some tips on art de vivre – the art of living, French style – along the way.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND
This Provence Tour is good for finding Garden Antiques, Mid Century Modern and Brutalist pieces, Architectural Salvage, Riviera Style, and of course French Country and Traditional Classic French Antiques
WHY SHOP PROVENCE WITH THE ANTIQUES DIVA & CO?
There are 2 reasons to book our Antique Buying Tours in France. Expertise and Joie de Vivre.
Expertise:
For antiques dealers sourcing in France, you can consider us one-part antiques tour guide, one-part antiques expert, one-part business coach for antique dealers, and one-part administrative assistant.
Interior Designer John Call said, “The Antiques Diva & Co is like having a back office in Europe.”
When you buy antiques, we not only introduce you to the best vendors selling your style and price point of inventory, and translate and negotiate for you, but we also fill out your purchase orders and shipping paperwork, making sure to capture the essential details which will help you later on when you are writing your product descriptions. We think forward capturing the details we know you are going to ask for later!
We teach you the essential styles and periods of antiques – pointing out details to train your eye, so you are not only better able to sell the inventory but to buy the inventory.
We photograph inventory as you buy and create a spreadsheet at the end of the tour with all your purchases, helping to keep you organized for receiving your container, so you have a concise checklist you can cross reference when receiving your purchases. This may seem simple, but if you are filling a container, this means 1000s of items of inventory and that is a lot of details in which to keep track.
We deal with the logistics between the vendors you buy from and the shippers helping to coordinate collections.
Buying antiques in France takes a village – and I cannot imagine buying antiques in France without having someone on the ground taking care of the logistics!
Joie de Vivre:
And on top of all that we are fun. Do you remember the mullet – the haircut from the 1980’s? As the saying goes, we are “business in the front and party in the back”! As we shop in the south of France, we are discussing and experiencing French lifestyle and culture.
The way the French live today can be traced back to the court of Versailles when Louis XV established a culture of luxury, beauty, etiquette, elegance, and quality.
As you shop with your Antiques Diva Guide you will enjoy – art de vivre – the art of living. We not only give you access to buying antiques in France, but we also give you access to understanding the culture. The French have Savoir Vivre. They know how to live well. And we share this lifestyle as we take you on an antiques buying tour. From our croissant and coffee in the morning, to stopping off to source French fabric and Savon de Marseilles at the vegetable market, to rose wine at lunch time and gorgeous dinners alfresco we embrace joie de vivre. The joy of living.
Whether you are booking a 1, 2, 3 or 5 day tour, we customize your antiques tour in order to get you to the widest cross section of antique vendors selling the inventory you are looking for. From flea markets and brocantes, to private by-appointment only stores and antiques warehouses, we organize your antique buying tour with according to your taste, your budget, your timeline.
Whether you are filling a container to sell in your antiques store, sourcing for interior design projects, or merely buying for your own home – we help you buy antiques in Provence and you have fun while doing it!
PRIVATE TOURS
- Our PROVENCE ANTIQUING TOURS are private 1-on-1 fully customized tours organized for the trade.
DURATION
- Trips can last from 1 to 5 days.
- Shopping hours vary according to day but are 8 hours unless indicated otherwise.
- Evening hours dining with your guide are frequently suggested and at the expense of the client unless otherwise indicated.
ANTIQUES DIVA GUIDES
- Our Guides are fully fluent in both French and English. They translate and negotiate on your behalf.
- Our Antiques Tour Guides are experts in sourcing antiques – we are not tour guides – but we are antiques guides. Our guides have worked, or continue to work as antiques dealers, and they understand first hand what it means to stock your store. At other companies you get guides with degrees in tourism. At the Antiques Diva, we are teaching you the Business of Antiques.
- All our guides are locals with long established reputations sourcing antiques with referrals from both sides of the pond.
WHEN
- Markets Saturday & Sunday,
- Wholesale Only Trade Fair 7 X a Year Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
- Warehouses and Antique Shops 7 Days a Week by Appointment
BOOK A TOUR: EMAIL info@antiquesdiva.com
LISTEN: PODCAST
Learn More about Savoir Vivre in Provence on the Business of Antiques podcast with Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co, and Provence Diva Guide Melanie.
See also
MORE THAN ANTIQUES PODCAST EPISODE IN PROVENCE
Deballage with The Antiques Diva & Co
Wholesale Only To the Trade Antiques Fair in France
8 X Per Year Annually
This tour is specifically for the antiques trade and is not accessible to non-professionals. In addition to visiting the wholesale only trade fairs in the south of France, we organize a series of stops at important antiques warehouses and by-appointment only antiques shops. While the trade fairs are important sources for stocking your store – it’s where everyone goes. As a dealer, your job is to find items your competitors don’t – which means that you need to a local on the ground whose whole job is to stay one step ahead of the competition. When working with clients at The Antiques Diva & Co, we help you grow your business, building your little black book so you have more contacts for sourcing antiques continuing to expand your horizons. If you want to build a store that stands out from the crowds, you need to get away from the crowds.
Saturday: Villeneuve Flea Market in morning and by-appointment only warehouses in afternoon
Sunday: Beziers Deballage plus antiques shops
Monday: Avignon Deballage and by-appointment only antiques warehouses
Tuesday: Montpellier Deballage, antiques shops, and antiques warehouses
Wednesday: Further afield sourcing antiques in dealers’ homes and antiques warehouses
Thursday: Further afield sourcing antiques in dealers’ homes and antiques warehouses
Inquire For Details info@antiquesdiva.com
L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Flea Market – Ideal for 1-Day Tour
Friday to Monday
L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is the 2nd largest flea market in France after the Paris Flea Market. It is a destination in itself. More than 300 dealers – with special antiques fairs Easter Weekend and August 15 – sell curated, showroom ready antiques, attracting some of the world’s best buyers for curated sourcing in permanent locations. And while L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is an essential stop for antiquers – it is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s perfect if you would like to get a taste for the experience of antiquing in the south of France without having more time for traveling further afield.
Inquire For Details info@antiquesdiva.com
MULTI-DAY TOURS: Savoir Vivre Provence Antiques + French Lifestyle Multi-Day Tour
While all our private tours are customized, this gives you a feel of what you can expect on an Antiques Diva multi-day tour in the south of France. While the days are structured around antiques – we also include in this tour a touch of art de vivre – the art of living – so you can experience MORE than antiques! Optional outings additionally include cookery courses, visits to concept stores, soap factories, ceramic studios, as well as vintage car and motorbike tours or restoration and upholstery making courses and perfume making workshops. If you tell us your interests, we will plan a route that perfect for your needs.
Day 1 Wednesday:
Today is a gorgeous start to your tour as you will enjoy a day around Cassis
from shopping a street market to visiting the Calanques, enjoying a wine tasting and shopping for antiques at nearby off the grid, by-appointment only antiques vendors in their private home or antiques warehouses.
Day 2 Thursday:
Antiquing in Haut Var Region stopping everywhere from antiques malls to thrift shops and antiques stores. Consider today’s trip all about countryside chic.
Day 3 Friday:
Shop for antiques in private residences or by-appointment only antiques stores and then hit the antiques warehouse of Marseilles Baby! You willl tour Marseille center visiting rattan and ceramic workshops as well as North African pottery.
Day 4 Saturday:
Begin the day antiquing in Villeneuve at a gorgeous flea market in the shadow of the Chateau before antiquing in warehouses in the area. Visit a fabrics factory where you can make your own fabric lines.
Day 5 Sunday:
Begin the day at the Carpentras flea market and the shop the world famous L´isle sur la Sorgue flea market in addition to some private ateliers and artist studios.,
Inquire For Details info@antiquesdiva.com
Inquire about additional
UPCOMING SPECIAL BROCANTE TOUR DATES ANNUALLY