Do you love neon? Who doesn't? Up until a few years ago, signs everywhere had neon. Remember the…read moreubiquitous roadside greasy spoon with the three letters (usually in red neon) "E-A-T" which almost seemed more like a command. The Red Owl, restaurants, even shoe stores, car dealers, and beer signs in tavern windows, all relied on neon to make their message known!
Not so much anymore, since the invention of the plastic bubble sign backlit by fluorescent tubes. Neon pretty quickly fell out of favor. Today, there are even backlit signs designed to fool you into thinking they are neon - only they aren't.
But neon is alive and well in Antigo, where DB Collectibles buys, sells, and trades in neon. The showroom is a veritable museum of neon signs and advertising pieces (clocks, porcelain signs, etc.) and most of them are for sale.
Out in back is a huge workshop that repairs, restores, and creates new neon signs. If you have old neon signage you'd like restored, this is the place!
I've been driving past this place for years, and since US 45 is my family's main street to Upnorth, I've been passing this place, literally, for years. I never really quite knew what this non-descript blue building, covered with porcelain signs, was all about. A friend of mine stopped in here and gushed to me that I really had to stop in sometime.
I recently found myself in Antigo (doing something else) and decided that would be the day I would stop to investigate this cathedral of advertising. I had no idea what to expect.
"Blown away" comes to mind. There are two businesses here, DB Collectibles is in front, that I mentioned, buys, sells, and trades neon signs. Out in back is Northern Advertising that has been a fixture in northern Wisconsin for a long time. They are the folks that restore and repair neon. If you like, they will build a neon sign to your design.
As impressive as this is, it is not really a museum, it is an operating business. They bent over backwards to welcome me and explain the business. Most everything I liked is out of my price range, but these days, that's true of almost everything.
If you're looking for that perfect addition to your man cave, garage, family room, or maybe an impressive sign out in front of your business, this is the place to visit!