Rena Philp runs The Lilac – Antique and Vintage Shoppe out of a storefront at 301 N 2nd St in Farmington, Iowa, a small river town in Van Buren County that has quietly become one of southeast Iowa’s favorite antiquing detours. The shop trades in the kind of goods that define a good vintage stop: furniture, decor, glassware, textiles, and smaller collectibles chosen for character rather than uniformity, the sort of pieces that give a room a lived-in, personal feel instead of a showroom look. Shoppers who follow the page have built a loyal following, with the shop’s Facebook community passing 3,500 followers, a sizable audience for a shop operating out of a town of a few hundred residents.
Farmington sits along the Des Moines River in the Villages of Van Buren, a stretch of small, historic communities including Bonaparte, Bentonsport, and Keosauqua that have leaned into heritage tourism, scenic byway drives, and weekend antiquing as a shared regional identity. The Lilac benefits from that traffic, catching visitors who are already touring the area’s covered bridges, mills, and river towns and looking for one more stop before heading home. Its position on 2nd Street puts it within easy reach of the rest of the town’s small commercial core.
What distinguishes The Lilac from a typical single-room antique booth is the personal touch Rena brings to both the shop and its online presence. Posts to customers are answered directly and by name, and the shop announces its open days individually rather than posting a single fixed schedule, a practice common among small-town antique shops run by a single owner who balances the store with other responsibilities. Recent announcements have included Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so visitors are encouraged to check the shop’s Facebook page or call ahead at 319-371-7864 before planning a special trip, since hours can shift with the season and with sourcing trips for new inventory.
That owner-driven, one-woman-operation model is part of what gives the shop its character. Because Rena curates and prices everything herself, the mix on the floor reflects her own eye rather than a rotating cast of independent vendor booths, which means the inventory has a more consistent look and feel than a large multi-dealer mall might offer. Regulars have come to expect that consistency, even as the specific pieces on the shelves change with each new estate sale, auction, or private purchase that restocks the shop.
For travelers mapping out a Van Buren County antiquing weekend, The Lilac is worth building into the route alongside the other river towns nearby, both for the shopping itself and for the chance to see a genuinely small, family-run shop still operating on Farmington’s main street. Email inquiries can be sent directly to the shop’s listed address for questions about specific items or upcoming open days. In short, The Lilac – Antique and Vintage Shoppe is a small, owner-run antique and vintage store in Farmington, Iowa, offering curated furniture, decor, and collectibles as part of the Villages of Van Buren antiquing corridor along the Des Moines River.
