Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

One of the most exciting things about secondhanding, for shopkeeper and shopper alike, is the incredible ebb and flow of goods. Sometimes this is due to style and fashion (what housewares shop hasn’t experienced too many George Forman grills?), sometimes it’s season (too many coats in November, too many shorts in April), and sometimes it’s holiday.

Managing to properly present

not enough,

then too many,

then the fading remnants

of a category is an ongoing duty of the shopkeeper. We owe our best selling attempts on both sides of a bulging intake.

As an example, take the holiday goods that the not-for-profit consignment shop, Woman’s Exchange in Sarasota FL, has dealt with recently. Since I volunteer as Merchandiser there, let me tell you how I managed. The shop started accepting Christmas on October 1^st. The final deadline was November 30.

My first duty, as these items started hitting the floor, was to find a spot for them. Now, holiday goods are highly desirable for a very short period of time… about October 15 until about December 10. So we had goods coming in a bit early, then we had things arriving only days before the season-selling would grind to a halt. Christmas selling is not only time-delimited, but it’s also very lucrative for the shop so it needed to be in a prominent area. The area closest to the front door, visible from the cashier’s line, was chosen.

At first, we didn’t have enough to make a nice, fully-stocked merchandising splash. I selected goods to “pad” out the area. Remember: you cannot sell ANY of a few little things… they look pitiful. Customers want to feel they have a good selection. So I added merchandise like red glass vases, green goblets, angel statuettes, damask napkins, crystal candlesticks to create a true holiday section.

(A side note: if you want more suppliers to bring in more of a category, let them see it… thus the “padding” of the department not only sells what’s there, but what will be there in the near future!)

As more and more holiday-specific goods came in, I gradually retired unsold “fillers”. The green goblets went back into the glassware area so I had room for reindeer-decorated china.

Then, as you can imagine, the area started to overflow. The stuffed penguins and the Christmas teddy bears had to have their own area. Poinsettia centerpieces migrated onto tabletops. By mid-November, there was Christmas everywhere you looked in our 12,000 sq ft, but still (somewhat!) categorized. Dickenesque cottages on a mahogany sidetable. Angels got their own department near the garden decor. We even had a “decorate-a-tree” subsection with ornaments, garlands, and tree-toppers.

Then (thanks, I like to think, to my merchandising efforts) things started selling like mad. As they did, categories and selections had to be rethought. By about December 1^st we were “selling down”. The categories started looking a little skimpy. For a week or so, I could make do: I filled in the Christmas stuffed animals with some Garfields and macaws; the cottages that had become picked-over were snuggled next to the dinnerware with turn-of-last-century farm scenes. I added non-specific twig wreaths to the trim-a-tree area. That worked for another week or so.

But finally, I had to pull in all the tendrils. The remaining silk poinsettias filled the bottom shelves so the mugs and music boxes still could be clustered abundantly on the shelves above. We recruited the angels back and even stuck in some little cupids. Gold-rimmed champagne flutes and silver serving pieces add sparkle to what otherwise might look bare.

As I write this, there are eight more Woman’s Exchange shopping days until Christmas. I’m on my way in to the shop to further fluff out the remaining goods. I want to sell them, so I’ll need to make them appealing even this late by adding more “selection.” Wonder if I can “persuade” shoppers that those red kitchen canisters are a good holiday buy? Maybe if I glom a few green stick-on bows onto them…