Barnum's Emporium in Clinton, Indiana

Barnum’s Emporium in Clinton, Indiana


Barnum’s Emporium in Clinton, Indiana was absolutely packed with stuff.

Located right downtown, this Vermillion County antique shop is a picker’s paradise!

Barnum’s Emporium in Clinton, Indiana

If you haven’t heard of junk shops before, it’s like your basic Indiana antique shop except nothing is cleaned off, fixed up, or prettified in any way. That’s part of what makes it so fun! You just don’t know what you are going to find.

Before you even walk in there’s stuff to comb through on the sidewalk. But once inside? You are met with mountains of stuff!

There’s a large shelf of nothing but lamps, an almost-as-tall-as-me stack of milk crates containing books of all kinds on the outer wall, and loads of interesting furniture piled up in the middle.

I picked through old records, browsed through neat old dishware (including the platter pictures below, left that reads “To My Mother 1921.” Wouldn’t you love to know the story on that and why it’s here?

Clinton, Indiana Antique Shop

Barnum's Emporium in Clinton, Indiana

Barnum’s Emporium in Clinton, Indiana


We steered Kid #1 away from the odd toy here or there. We ended up picking up a container of Lincoln Logs for a steal!

Keep in mind that if you have a stroller, you won’t be getting through these aisles. You can probably stand in the front and at least rummage around up there but you won’t be able to really get in there to the back of the large shop (at least, not at the time of our visit).

Bring someone along who can switch off with you, but in general, this would be a good store to not bring the kids to if you want to be able to look around before hearing about “boredom” and “hunger” and “why can’t I play/touch/climb on ______?”

Go There

Barnum's Emporium in Clinton, Indiana

Barnum’s Emporium in Clinton, Indiana


Junk shops are my new favorite thing! little Indiana and family had a good time exploring the contents of Barnum’s Emporium in Clinton, Indiana.

It was a really neat one of a kind mom and pop shop in one amazing Indiana town! You don’t want to miss it!

Small Towns: Destinations, not Drive-Thrus! I’m Jessica Nunemaker and THIS is little Indiana!

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Just don’t forget to tell ’em that  little Indiana sent you!

Barnum’s Emporium
249 S Main Street
Clinton, Indiana 47842
765.832.8172

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