So many people are exploring secondhand shops now, what with a poor economy and what with trying to shop locally to save gas, that I have been overwhelmed with requests about what the terms resale, consignment, and thrift mean.
There’s an explanation on the Consumer Page at Too Good to be Threw and more on HowToConsign.com such as What is Consignment? and WHICH TYPE OF CONSIGNMENT OR RESALE OR THRIFT SHOP SHOULD I CHOOSE? and WHY SHOULD I CONSIGN or SELL my under-loved items? But for the short-and-sweet way to explain it to your friends, customers, and reporters, here’s the explanation I wrote at the request of Amazon a year or 2 back:
What do all these words MEAN?
Well, resale means, obviously, that something’s been sold before. Maybe it was last week at Target, maybe it was 1920 at Bergdorf Goodman. Resale shops can be buy-outright shops, consignment shops, or thrift stores, which usually means a not-for-profit donations-only shop run by a charity.
Consignment simply means it is owned by someone other than the shopkeeper. There are consignment clothing shops, consignment furniture stores…and consignment Rolls dealers (as in Rolls Royce, not stale bread…although bakery THRIFT shops exist too…isn’t this conFUSing?)
Thrift stores mean, well, you save money there. Thrift is a virtue. Thrift is good. Thrift is American as apple pie (after all, it was Poor Richard’s Almanack that said… um, something about thrift being good. And Poor Richard was Benjamin Franklin who lived in Philadephia and in his honor, ALL 2nd-hand stores, from lowly to highly, are called thrift stores in that part of the country.)
But I digress. Or do I? Basically, who cares, if they are buying, how the shop gets its inventory? What you’re truly looking for is a deal on something you want… and that’s what resale, consignment, and thrift shops are all about. Find one you love, and it will be love everlasting. Pass one in the night, and it will be as if fated (I still dream of the great Pacific Grove shop…)
The only thing better than finding a resale shop you love, is creating one. And that’s what Too Good to be Threw The Complete Operations Manual will do. Don’t believe me? Go visit the web site and see what real shopkeepers think…
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 