Happy 35th Anniversary Week to ME!
Yes, I know. I’ve been around the consignment counter a few times. With 35 years gone by since I opened my own shop (and more years than that involved in the biz), it’s easy for me to think I’ve seen it all before. (More about me on yesterday’s intro to this Great TGtbT Week of Giveaways!)
But truth is, I haven’t seen it all. I haven’t seen YOUR solution!
And that’s what keeps me fascinated about the resale industry. Because we operate (usually) with finite funds and because we are challenged (always) with the ebb and flow of such a variety of goods, we keep on our toes, don’t we?
One of the biggest tasks we face every day is, as the subtitle of this book proclaims,
Creating Visual Excitement for Retail Stores.
So, let’s have some fun. YOU tell everyone here a great tip of your own you’ve used to make your shop shimmer with excitement, to make your clientele go Hey WOW and to want to be a part of your business… and I will enter you into a drawing for this wonderful book. Winners drawn (for each of this week’s events, stay tuned!) on Saturday September 25.
This prize has been donated to her resale, consignment, and thrift peers by Cynthia of The White Elephant in Virginia. Thanks Cynthia, best wishes on your new home, and I am SO happy you thought of all of us when you were paring down your book collection for moving!
See more about this book on Amazon.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] Give us a tip you’ve used to make your shop shimmer with excitement […]
[…] Monday’s topic was a great tip you’ve used to make your shop shimmer with excitement, […]
Happy Anniversary Kate! Thanks to everyone for actively sharing….what great ideas!!
Our child labor (son-9 and daughter-12) are hard at work creating the personal touches for our first customers. We’ll include handmade origami’s in all shopping totes. The kids are also putting together free “Lunchbox Love” notes for our first (100?) customers. 30 days worth of riddles for mom to include in the kids’ lunch bags. “What goes around the world but stays in the corner?” Mom just signs the note and puts on her personal touch each morning. If they are well received, we’ll sell follow-up “Lunchbox Love” riddles (month 2, month 3, etc)
Answer? (A stamp) 🙂
I like to make odd-ball displays to make customers laugh, or more probably, roll their eyes.
I try to think of out-of-the ordinary ways to use ordinary objects – such as using boots for a vase, or as bookends. Or maybe using a doll cradle to hold excess books, or using a chandalier to hang necklaces, or the base of an old standing mirror to hang scarves.
The most fun and successful launch of a new product was probably so fun and successful because of the display we created to debut them. When BabyLegs came out with their new “Cool” version, we created a Hawaiian “waterfall” to display them.
I went to Joann’s and got those fake flower petals (great for use w/ flower girls at weddings) in hot pink, white, lavendar, and light pink. I strung them with a needle on fishing line. Near the BabyLegs display I hammered in small brackets into the ceiling in a straight line. Then I tied my lines of petals onto the brackets until there was enough to form a solid “curtain” of petals. Then I strung packages of the BabyLegs Cool and hung them at different lengths down the waterfall of petals. The spot where I hung the petal curtain was very near our furnace so when the air conditioner came on, the whole thing undulated in the breeze.
We sold out of the Cools in less than 2 weeks! lol We ended up cutting them down out of the waterfall. Since then, I’ve used the petal curtain idea in our windows and it’s always an eye-catcher.
I color-coded all of my signs and then added a sub-category, so I could easily guide folks where they needed to go AND they could find their own way. I also sprinkle in some humor, like a sign with three frogs that say “Shop” “Wise” “Er”….! I’m all about fun and helping others…that’s my focus!
[…] September 21, 2010 by Auntie Kate This post is part of Auntie Kate’s 35th anniversary of being a consignment shopkeeper, author, maven, and fan. Here’s the intro to our anniversary giveaway, and if you haven’t already posted a comment to win Monday’s prize, you can do so here. […]
Kate–Happy Anniversary! Thank you sooo much for all your help. We are always using all the wonderful resources we have received from you and are so grateful for them and your seemingly unending creativity! You’re awesome! The following idea was Dwight’s brain child (hubby and co-owner). We have a rather small display window so we needed to try to draw people’s attention to the window. Dwight found small mirror tiles (1/2 inch square) and using fishing line to make hanging strings that would catch the light and flicker. He has a small fan blowing a gentle breeze so that they move. The mirror tiles are sandwiched back to back with a piece of transparency film between them to catch the air. The film sticks out a little beyond the mirror tiles. So the result is very cool. No matter sunlight, or day light or store light the mirrors are always flickering little pieces of light that draw your attention to the store.
Tara, that’s a “Dazzle”-ing idea. I had some strings like that I bought at a dollarastore out on my lanai and the flickering light was wonderful. Alas, the Florida sun did the fishing line in, and the dollar store doesn’t have them anymore.
Hi Kate…..
Being in Las Vegas, we will have customers that shop and work all hours of the day. We are planning to be open until midnight one day a week to accomodate those that have late schedules. We will also offer a once a month “after-hours” shopping and cocktails night. Both my partner and I were executives in the cosmetics industry for decades so we will have a special section of the store deidcated to look like an upscale cosmetics counter where we do makeup demonstrations and consultations.
Should be open next month!!!!
Wish us luck!
A big BIG thank you for all your help. You are a true consignment genius, a GEM of lady and true inspiration!
http://www.tgtbt.com/w-agora/view.php?bn=tgtbt_introducing&key=1285003050
i posted my idea on the sharing board…sorry kate it must have been the screaming kids that made me make that mistake!
Like Jonathan who posted above, I am still working on the lease (crossing fingers that it will get signed this week!) Thus, I don’t have a store yet but have learned sooo much on tgtbt/manual/pdfs. We have this cute room that we were considering breaking down to make more space. I thought about it for awhile & decided to convert it to a small kids area/clothing room. I know that although the kids won’t make as much money as adult clothes, I will consider it a “loss leader” to hopefully get them in the door and to differentiate ourselves from our nearest competitor (who only sales upscale women).
I have an open wall just inside my front door that I use for weekly vignettes that tell a story. I gather like things with a theme, color, style etc. I usually have 1 or 2 total outfits complete with accessories displayed on a mannequin or bodyform with a large “pricetag” I cut from a file folder with “Entire Outfit Only $00.00”.
My customers like to stop every week to see what the theme is, some of them even get involved with suggestions of their own!
Get a local college School of Design programinvolved to have a contest to design displays for windows, landing area, on rounders.
If money is tight, contestants could use the Anthropologie eco-friendly recycling approach to props.
Winning this would look great on their resumes and they’d invite all their friends to the reveal and to come see their project in the coming weeks.
If there is no design school in your town, let your hip teen and other customers be in the contest.
This could be done seasonally.
Having just put in an offer for a lease on a space, I have a lot to learn. I have so many great ideas from all of the great products available on TGTBT and all the great info available in the “Sharing” forums also. From the large amount of reading and our own experiences with our two small children, we plan to offer a few NEW items in our consignment shop; including Robeez(they are awesome), girls head bands and other accessories(too cute and we can get a local mom who makes them) and probably other items too, as we find more. Because we have 2 children that are 18 months and just now 3 years old we are building in a play area that is large enough and entertaining enough to accommodate all kids. We will include this space in our advertising as a bonus for shopping here.
I have a free “halloween party” for the kids. Last year we did a costume contest and crafts and goodies. This year I am involving other small businesses to donate for door prizes, make snacks for the kids, have face painting and a “guest visitor for the kids”, along with carnival type games. And this year we will have a “christmas party” in december and have a gift wrapping station for kids to shop for their siblings. They love it when something is just for them!
This year will be the 3rd Annual Glamour Photo & Ladies Night Out. We hype it up with in-store signage, emails, etc. We display past years’ headshots. We turn 1/3 of the store into a photography studio and provide food, spirits, sales, giveaways & drawings. Our large ladies love getting glammed up and getting a sexy photo shoot in the company of other large (& sometimes intimidated) women. We have collected a nice assortment of lingerie costumes, and our photographers bring a truckload of their own props, too. It is a super-charged, chaotic evening and the ladies love it!
Along with all of my beautiful like new children’s things, I like to ask local moms who are crafty to sell items that they make especially children’s hair accessories and jewelry. It adds beauty and a sense of community with other moms.