Aahana Swrup
Considering the way Harriet’s past perpetually haunts her in the Hulu music-driven romance film, ‘The Greatest Hits,’ it only seems fitting for her love interest, David, to be in possession of his family’s antique store business. The story revolves around these two individuals— David, who lost his parents, and Harriet, whose boyfriend passed away in a terrible car accident. The pair share an instantaneous connection following their chance meeting at a support group. Yet, complications persist within the duo’s potential for romance, namely— Harriet’s condition, wherein particular songs from her relationship with her dead boyfriend, Max, transport her back in time.
Eventually, David’s family antique store, “Yesterday’s Antiques,” ends up playing a crucial role in unraveling Harriet’s particular condition, becoming a keystone within the film’s narrative. For the same reasons, the store’s significance may lead viewers to wonder whether or not the location has a basis in real life.
Yesterday’s Antiques: A Fictional Establishment
‘The Greatest Hits’ charts a fictional narrative about love, grief, and nostalgia, wrapped up in a colorful and quaint background perpetually reminiscent of its Los Angeles Hipster aesthetic. Therefore, many of the locations where Harriet and David’s characters take the storyline to fit in with their particular styles— best described with local coffee shops, record stores on the edge of shutting down, and rooftop silent discos. Although these establishments round out the film’s vintage-obsessed stylization, most of these places are confined to the film’s fictionality.
Consequently, Yesterday’s Antiques also remains a fictitious location, tailor-made for the film’s storyline. Given Harriet and Max’s preference toward shelves upon shelves of vinyl records as their music library, the couple predictably inclined toward an antique store when searching for furniture. As a result, Yesterday’s Antiques, owned by the Park family, enters the story as the spot where Max bought his statement retro armchair. Eventually, the chair ends up playing a part in the man’s accidental death. For the same reason, Harriet becomes obsessed with finding the record that was playing at the store to travel back in time and prevent Max from buying the chair, subsequently saving his life.
Therefore, it comes as a great shock when Harriet learns that David’s parents owned Yesterday’s Antiques, turning her chance meeting with the man into something akin to fate. As such, within the nostalgia-steeped narrative of ‘The Greatest Hits,’ Yesterday’s Antiques fits in both aesthetic and plot significance. Nevertheless, the exact store depicted in the film isn’t a real-life location.
Even so, considering the banner’s perfect relevance to the thrift industry, viewers can find several other antique stores in the real world sporting an identical name. While these places have no tangible connection to the store depicted in the film, the casualness of such establishments further solidifies the sense of realism inside the walls of Yesterday’s Antiques fictional store.
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