Antiques in Custer, SD

“Five stars for Boyd’s Antiques in South Dakota, a magnificent roadside hallucination where the past has been dragged out of the basement, dusted off, and thrown into the ring with enough glorious old American junk to make a sane person question the entire concept of time.

This is not merely an antique store. It is an archaeological expedition through the American nervous system, with every corner offering another relic, oddball treasure, forgotten piece of machinery, battered sign, piece of furniture or mysterious object that looks like it once played a supporting role in a crime nobody ever solved. You walk in looking for one thing and immediately lose all sense of purpose.

The place has that beautiful, dangerous quality of old stuff that cannot be manufactured anymore: everything has a story, most of the stories are probably better than anything happening on television, and some of the objects appear to have survived wars, divorces, farm auctions and several regrettable decisions.

I came out alive, slightly disoriented, and considerably more convinced that America was built by people who refused to throw anything away.

Five stars. Boyd’s is the kind of place you find on a South Dakota road trip and remember long after the interstate, the gas stations and the rest of civilization have disappeared in the rearview mirror.”

“I purchased a picture of a B-1 bomber with a bunch of signatures on it from this shop, turns out it was my 1st term USAF roommate's retirement gift and he and I were close friends over the years, best man at his wedding in '81, his kids still call me "uncle Mark", and am still in contact with his family. This good man unfortunately passed away in 2010 from pancreatic cancer at age 52. I can now reunite this picture with his family members if they'd like to have it back, thinking it was gotten rid of after my friend's death as his widow likely just wanted a fresh start. I get that totally. I got a tip on this from a good friend and former USAF service buddy on this, so acted on it as he knew the original owner well too.The lady at this business where the pic was located did, in fact, go out of her way to help me and get this item shipped to me in as timely a manner as possible, as she has a store to run and business to take care of besides. It is a good size picture and took some doing to get it shipped to me. These guys at Dakota Territory Trading Post sure treated me darn decent and were friendly towards me, and I'd say to give them some business! I live in western AZ so it's a long way for me to drive to, but intend to go backup there soon, been awhile!Many thanks to this business for going the extra mile to make a customer happy! You rock!”