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If you’ve got cash to spare, you can land some pretty sweet deals on antiques and collectibles in these tough economic times.

How about a new set of china for a steal? One consignment antique shop in downtown Greensboro is selling a 49-piece Royal Copenhagen set for the rock-bottom price of $995.

Expensive? Sure. But still one heck of a deal.

“If you were to buy that at X,Y, Z or get it off the Internet or even at Replacements, it would be $2,500 to $3,000,” owner Gary Brame said.

Brame and his wife, interior designer and artist Agnes Preston-Brame, recently opened Jules Too! at 524 S. Elm St. after noticing an increasing supply of fine, high-quality interior items becoming more available because of the recession.

“It’s a buyer’s market,” Gary Brame said. “You have the ability to come in here and buy things that a year-and-a-half ago you probably would have paid twice as much for.”

The couple also see it as a natural extension of another business they own in downtown Greensboro: Jules Antiques and Fine Art at 530 S. Elm St.

They also own a residential and commercial interior design firm in downtown Greensboro called Metamorphosis at 524 S. Elm St.
Inside Jules Too!, a painting hangs on a wall that’s a duplicate of 17th-century painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s “Madonna and Child.”

Yours for only $14,500.

Keep in mind the hand-painted, carved wood frame alone would probably fetch $25,000 to $30,000 in New York, Gary Brame said.

Still out of your price range?

The Brames also sell antiques for under $100.

There’s a leather-encased liquor bottle with two shot glasses, circa 1920s or 1930s, that they’re selling for $36.

A pink bottle with a stopper with raised work on the outside costs $18.

“You couldn’t buy anything like that today even it were new because of the nature of the colored glass and so on for less than $75,” Gary Brame said.

Jules Too! is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of each month. The number is 389-9934.

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I mentioned in last week’s column I was polling readers at my blog, Bargain Blog, about what stores and restaurants would be a hit in these parts.

So far, we’ve named at least 57 stores we want to see open. Check out the list.

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With Mother’s Day approaching (May 10), Consumer Reports has compared widely sold chocolates that cost less than $2 per ounce.

Two brands got a thumbs up: Lindt Swiss Tradition De Luxe Collection ($1.98 an ounce) and Ferrero Collection Prestige Fine Assorted Confections ($1.02 an ounce).

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Check out the Bargain Blog at news-record.com and subscribe to the Bargain Bytes e-newsletter at news-record.com/bargains. The free newsletter will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign up for my Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/bargainblog.

Do you have a retail news or shopping tips for Savvy Shopper? Contact Mike Fuchs at 373-3465 or michael.fuchs@news-record.com.