Did you miss it? Fair Trade Consignment in Peoria AZ didn’t.
Here’s the postcard Kim used…great design. Putting those snippets of “call to action” in the Earth rays is a great idea!
International Resale Day is July 18 every year. A date specifically chosen so that each resale, consignment, or thrift store can focus on either summer clearance or fall/ back-to-school promotion…and because mid-July tends to be, for most places, a real slow time of year when a little festivity and some excited shoppers would be most welcome.
What are you planning for July 18, 2009? Something with an ecology theme, such as Shop Resale and Save the Earth in Style? A style show entitled Show your OWN Style, with favorite customers pulling together their own unique looks from your shop? A Decorating on a Dime, International Style Decor, Put the Difference in their College Funds back-to-school promotion? We’ll be having a BIG internet directory of International Resale Day events with free listings so get thinking about what your shop will do!
Start a scrapbook of ideas…starting with Kim’s postcard here. Think about the angle of resale shopping that would most appeal to your target market.
Collect graphic suggestions, tag lines and advertising slogans that suit your business. Keep an eye open for fun advertising specialties, door prizes, giveaways. If you see something at a garage sale or thrift store that will suit your developing theme, snatch it up (you can always resell it if your developing campaign goes in a different direction!)
Take a look into joining together with other resale, consignment, thrift shops for a town-wide celebration. Don’t overlook all purveyors of resale goods: the book shop, the video game trade place, the antique shops and the flea markets and estate-sale operators. Even if a joint promotional event doesn’t gel, you’ll have made contact with some businesses which can complement yours, and that’s reason enough to celebrate!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Hi Kate, I’m curious who organizes/sponsors/promotes/determines International Resale Week? A quick Google search didn’t turn up anything that seemed relevant (except this site of course! 🙂 )
Oh my goodness, Melissa. I am SO glad you asked. Why, the people who who organize/sponsor/promote/determine Intl Resale Week are, of course, resale shopkeepers like yourself! After all, who do you think organizes/etc National Have-a-Beer-with-That Week? It ain’t the wine makers! 🙂
I look forward to seeing how your shop will make use of Intl Resale Week to increase awareness of your business. Be sure to let us know!
Thanks, Kate. I guess what I meant was, is there any organization behind this event/holiday? ie. who’s to say International Resale Week is a particular day/week/set of two weekends? It looks from this blog post in 2009 that it was one day, but now it’s turned into a week encompassing two weekends? I’m looking for an official site, perhaps a place to get information, share ideas, etc. The way other international holidays like Earth Day have educational sites (www.earthday.org). Unless you’re making it up yourself (which I doubt) you must be getting your news of this year’s dates for the event from somewhere…?
Melissa, I am the organization,the originator, the official site and I am the cheerleader of the resale industry (in case you didn’t notice that! LOL). (Oh, and the power behind the throne.) We all thought it might be a good idea to turn a Day into a Week, and then, of course, a “week” encompassing TWO weekends gives each independently owned and operated resale shop a choice of what days, dates, events, and so on would be best for them. No entrepreneur likes to be hemmed in by just one day… and besides, a fee more days allows shopkeepers to build on word of mouth.
You don’t need to take advantage of International Resale Day and my promoting it to consumers via the HowToConsign web site and the HTC blog and all the various social media HTC disseminates for all the resale industry, from the most polished designer consignment to the legendary “dusty musty thrift shops.”
If you wish to ignore International Resale Week or feel that this would in some way damage your business, feel free to not say a word to your clientele. I am only trying to make resale more visible in the retail world but I am not the boss of you 🙂
Thanks for clearing up my confusion, Kate! I’m in no way saying that promoting International Resale Week would damage my business! (Did I imply that?) I was just curious/confused about the origin.
Thanks for all that you do to promote the industry!
Melissa
Hope that you find a reason to have a mid-July event in your shop… goodness knows, that time of year needs to have a reason!
[…] Here’s some ideas I urged resale shopkeepers to start thinking about in August for… International Resale Day 2010. And what I did to celebrate International Resale Day in 2011 (we’re now past 10,000 comments!) […]
Paula, congratulations on your plans. As to whether “now” is a good time, that depends on many factors, least of which is the season of the year. I invite you to visit TGtbT.com, the Premiere Site for Professional Resalers, and explore all of the info and ideas there. Let us know how it goes!
great info. i am about to decide whether or not to purchase a children’s consignment store.
any advise. is this a good time to make this type of purchase? i would take it over in July. as per your article i seem to be on track as the first plan is to have a clearance to rid the store of older stock that i would not consider taking. 2nd i would start accepting all seasons to restock inventory. we live in canada so our cold seasons are longer than our summers
What a great looking card, it would certainly get my attention. It was a well thought out ad.
HBD Kate!
MollyB!