Last week, TGtbT.com asked resalers how much… if any… grooming of incoming consignments is done in their shop. Here’s how shopkeepers responded.
Click to enlarge.
The 29% “other” vote reflected that our viewers, independent business people, felt they wanted to explain a little further. Here’s a sampling of their clarifications:
As always, this variety of methods shows that shop owners choose what’s best for their businesses. While I cannot, personally, imagine steaming everything that comes in, it works for many shopkeepers.
And I would never ever dream of turning away an article I know would sell for a healthy price, asking the consignor to press it and bring it back. Like that’s gonna happen, huh? I’d rather pay 15 minutes’ wages to my part-time stockgirl to steam it than lose the item and annoy the consignor, who’s got better things to do than make a trip back to my shop with that item. Of course the investment has to be reasonable: It doesn’t make economic sense to spend $4-$5 to make a $10 blouse look better… but if it’s a $200 dress, heck yes I’d steam it!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
We steam, iron, or fabreeze items as needed. We are growing rapidly, and often a consignors items will not be as fresh as they were even a week before. I have found that orange clean wipes work well on basically everything from children’s toys to shoes, minimal effort required and they can be found in a fair quantity at our local dollar store.
I like to spritz the store down with a bit of either lightly scented or odor neutralizer (usually watered down) about once a week. I just do a quick walk through and spritz a bit as a straighten. It pays off, I often get feedback from customers that my shop doesn’t have the “funky odor” that they have experienced at other places. It can be difficult to combat the smells of a few hundred people’s laundry soap and fabric softener!
Yes, Leah, isn’t it funny? I often buy things I know are clean, but the products the previous owner used have a scent I cannot stand! (As do the finishing chemicals used on newly-manufactured goods.)
[…] Prepping merchandise for the sales floor: your opinions. […]
We steam most things that really need it to sell better. Most of our consignors will bring them in pressed. We state it in our policies. If they bring in and need to be steamed we will do it. It helps keep our shop looking nice an neat.