Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

Some interesting ideas and twists on the resale/ consignment/ thrift industry recently in the news:

A woman who doesn’t have a shop. Instead, she rents booth space for kidswear and equipment sellers at an outdoor, once-a-month flea market in Huntsville AL

And here’s another twist. This owner has a big location, so apparently she leases indoor booths and holds a seasonal sale as well in the basement. These “rent-a-booth” places used to be more common, especially during the white-goose-with-blue-ribbon-around-neck home crafts era for crafts booths. This entrepreneur is also in Alabama, by coincidence!

A thrift store, clearing out backlog, with a clever idea: Christmas in July. I have always felt sorry for donation-only thrifts, whose seasonal donations come 11 months BEFORE the next logical selling opportunity! I mean, when do well-meaning folks donate the Christmas decor they don’t want? Yup. December 26 or so. So why not perk up slow mid-summer sales and income with something fun, like Christmas in July? Or a “Tropical Gala” party or something specific to your marketplace?

How’d you like this consignor to be one of yours? (To be fair, she’s probably been dealing with shops who think they don’t “need” to give consignors itemized priced receipts for goods left…) Notice, in particular, the sneer quotes around the word “lose”…. this consumer doesn’t seem like she thinks her local shop’s terribly trustworthy.

And WHAT a great opportunity for this shop, who could build a buzz on the city newspaper’s blog:

“A new consignment shop has opened at 2710 Ingersoll Ave. in Des Moines. Consign & Design opened Monday in that spot… with a selection of furniture, home décor and a limited amount of clothing….having an open house…from 6 to 8 p.m. today, Friday. The number there is 288-3346. If you go, be sure to share comments about the store [here on this site].”

Sure hope this shop had a laptop up and connected to the Internet during their open house, so visitors could post their comments!

Lessons learned: Creativity counts! Have you done something out of the box recently? Tell, tell. Maybe you’ll get on Too Good to be Threw‘s web site!

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