Storage Wars Texas Review

“Storage Wars Texas” from A&E is my least favorite of the reality shows based around storage auctions. This comes from a native Texan and long time Dallas resident. I think this dislike comes from the “stars” of the show. And I enjoy all of the other shows about storage auctions, with the original A&E show, Storage Wars  being the most popular.

I am not sure where they found these people, but they definitely don’t reflect most Dallas dealers. We were in the antique business in Dallas for over 25 years. I recognize most of the stores that these people take their things to for appraisals. But most of these people have no idea of what real things of value are worth. How they could ver make a living doing this I have o idea. The people in the other shows that make a living from the storage auctions are knowledgeable about most things. No one knows about everything, and that is part of what draws people, at least me, to the shows. It is interesting what some of the things they find are worth. But the dealers in “Storage Wars Texas” seem to have the worst tastes.

 The Stars of “Storage Wars Texas”

Let’s start with Lesa Lewis, the thrift store owner. The things she thinks are wonderful make me want to never go to that thrift store. And who in this business would not know that some cookie jars are worth a decent amount of money. Again, you can’t know about everything, but you need to have a basic knowledge so you can recognize a bargain when you see it. She is not a twenty year old and brand new in the business. I think her store is located in a small town but not sure where. Jerry, her employee seems to have better tastes than her most of the time.

Next is my favorite, Ricky Smith. He grew up in the auction business, and seems to be able to recognize good things when he sees them. His nephew, Bubba Smith, works with him. He says in his bio that the influx of new people attending the auctions have driven up the price of the units. He say most have no idea what they are doing. They have just seen the TV shows and want in on the auctions. I have talked to several people that have said this is a growing trend across the country. Everyone is coming to find that needle in the haystack that will make them a fortune, not realizing that most abandoned units are what you would expect to find in a unit that people just abandon rather than paying the rent.

Then comes the antique dealer and collector, Morris “Moe” Prigoff. I have never seen this guy in the Dallas antique scene. And for someone who has been collecting antiques for over thirty years according to his bio, he is not very knowledgeable about what things are worth. In one episode, he had someone who could repurpose things that he thought were so unique and wonderful. One thing was making a bench from a bed. I first saw this in the 80’s. Some of the other things were pretty tacky. And I don’t mean to think I know everything. And I realize most viewers have not been in the antiques business for over 25 years like we have. But his bio says he has been doing this for over 25 years. I hope I get a chance to visit his store next time I am home.

Victor Rjesnjansky is the villain of the show. The ex New Yorker who left New York for the less expansive living in Dallas. He seems to be the one the others dislike the most, and seems to cherish that role. He has made some real mistakes on some of his buys, like the Chinese motorcycle without a key that was basically worthless.

They recently added ex-Cowboy Roy Williams to the show to try to add some star appeal.He teamed with Ricky and his nephew on his first show, and overspent according to Ricky. We will see if he knows what he is doing on coming shows, although I doubt I will be watching many of these. Most of the bio information and the photo came from the show’s site:http://www.aetv.com/storage-wars-texas/.

Video of “Storage Wars Texas”

Being an antique dealer from Dallas, and knowing the antique and auction scene there. It is disturbing that the show cast these people. I didn’t attend storage auctions since we were at our store six days a week, so I can’t speak from experience about the people that attend storage auctions in the Dallas area. Maybe these people reflect the people who actually do attend. There are articles on most of these shows on this site, Buying and Selling Antiques. But compared to all of the other shows, the people on “Storage Wars Texas” just seem so much less informed about the value of things, and bad tastes to boot.

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