{"id":313965,"date":"2025-08-03T07:38:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T07:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/313965\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T07:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T07:38:18","slug":"the-shop-full-of-treasures-thousands-drive-past-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/313965\/","title":{"rendered":"The shop full of treasures thousands drive past every day"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Marc Carey was a child he would go on cleaning jobs with his nan and he discovered a life-long passion\"MarcMarc Carey from Karma Antiques(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Thousands of people drive along Derby Road every day – heading to work, into the city, or to the docks – and pass right by a shop full of stories, history, and treasures. But most have no idea what\u2019s inside.<\/p>\n

Tucked into a stretch of Bootle<\/a>\u2019s industrial sprawl is Karma Antiques, a trove of objects from centuries past, each with a story to tell. It\u2019s run by Marc Carey, a former paramedic from Seaforth who left the NHS behind to follow a childhood fascination – one sparked in an unlikely place.<\/p>\n

Standing among the vintage radios, oak furniture, and Liverpool relics that fill his shop, he told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019ve always had an interest in antiques since I was a kid. My nan was a cleaner and used to take me to her cleaning jobs. One was for a barrister and he used to show me all the antiques and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

That interest stayed with him throughout his life. After retiring early, Marc decided he wasn\u2019t ready for a quiet one. He continued: \u201cI thought I\u2019d start up a little stall – I\u2019m too young to sit at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

What started as a market pitch next door eventually grew into a full-blown business, one which has been going for a decade.<\/p>\n

Marc said: \u201cHaving a place like this is about getting established. It\u2019s not like opening a sweet shop. It takes a long time to build it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside the shop, vintage signs, framed prints, and other oddities sit side-by-side with old Liverpool pub memorabilia. A large metal sign from St Augustine\u2019s parish church is a standout. Marc said: “There\u2019s no one who could make that now. I love the local stuff.”<\/p>\n

\"MedicalMedical mannequin at Karma Antiques(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

But like many small businesses, Karma Antiques faced one of its biggest challenges during the pandemic. Marc recalls: “Covid changed this job massively. It went online.<\/p>\n

“A lot of dealers were going out of business. I was here behind closed doors, using eBay to keep my head above water.”<\/p>\n

Marc said he never took out a loan, just kept things ticking over. He added: “I remember going to the post office and the woman there asked, \u2018Is this an essential item?\u2019 I said, \u2018It is, to keep the business going.\u2019 She understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OldOld double decker bus toy at Karma Antiques(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Every item on Marc\u2019s shelves has been hand-picked – often brought in by locals clearing out their attics, sometimes discovered in house clearances or auctions. He knows the story behind each one.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThat\u2019s my job. So when someone buys something and takes it home, they\u2019ve got bragging rights. They can tell the history.”<\/p>\n

Young people, Marc says, are some of his biggest customers: \u201cThey\u2019re into mid-century stuff. It\u2019s quality and they\u2019ve cottoned on – it\u2019ll last them forever, and they can pass it on. This stuff never goes out of date.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA Guinness mirror at Karma Antiques(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Business can be unpredictable for an antiques dealer, with Marc adding: \u201cIt\u2019s feast to famine here. You might get nothing for days, then someone walks in and spends a fortune. You never know what the day will bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s behind the name Karma Antiques?<\/p>\n

Marc smiles. “All this stuff – it goes around and comes around.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Marc Carey was a child he would go on cleaning jobs with his nan and he discovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[2648,748,393,4884,179,456,246,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-313965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-bootle","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-real-lives","14":"tag-shopping","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114963697298406424","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}