Sometimes, ya just gotta get your shopping jones on.
Am I right?
From out of nowhere comes the (most un-thrift-like) urge to BUY SOMETHING. When that happens, maybe something for your shop would satisfy your spending itch?
Less than $10, and making life so much easier… it’s amazing that every shop doesn’t have a herd of these hanger stackers, available here.
A dozen of these are just $20. Showcase artwork, decorative plates on coffee tables, bookcases, and watch both accessory and the furniture sell in a sec! Buy extras because your customers will want to purchase them. Available here.
These shaper hangers are best used for displays. Traditional hangers don’t make your outfits look as good. At $6 each, buy enough for your wall, ceiling, and window displays. Get them here.
Now here’s an interesting purchase. It’s a dressing room frame which screws to the wall, but I can also see it in a corner to conceal some not-for-sale-yet incoming, or as an overhead frame to use in a window display, draping bead curtaining, floral garlands, to “frame” a pretty piece of furniture or an outfit on a dress form. It’s $48 here.
This Bauhaus-inspired folding easel, at $115, would work hard in your foyer or your display window, and would happily travel to a trade show too. It’s here.
This revolving slatwall tower is good for hair accessories, belts, decorative furniture tassels, jewelry, $119, here.
What little splurges for your business have made you smile?Proven to be incredibly priceless? Or, even more interesting, what did you buy for your business that you would warn others against?!? Add your wisdom below.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Great ideas. I have the hanger stand but the lighting idea is great.
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Yes, Madonna, those LED strips are awfully tempting. Actually, I ran across them yesterday and that;s what prompted me to Facebook this post today!
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[…] Splurges Big & Small for Resalers […]
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We use adhesive strips of LED lighting in the corner of each of our two front windows, and they light up the window displays perfectly once it gets dark. Our store windows are the only ones on the block that are lit up overnight. The LEDs are also very economical and environmental–they are on all the time. We often have people come in to see something they saw in the window displays after hours. It was one of our tech savvy board members who came up with the idea and installed them in about 30 minutes.
I may have to get one of those hanger stackers…
A decent cordless vacuum with a handle is something I just got, and can’t wait to use. No more bending over to suck up dust bunnies with the handvac, or bringing out the big vacuum with the cord that gets tangled around racks, lamps, tables, etc.
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Great idea, Heidi! I saw those adhesive LED strips and didn’t even think about using them for window lighting. And when you find a decent cordless vac, let us know which one. I’ve been through 3, and they’re all as useless as a consignor or donor with Villager shirtwaists.
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One thing I suggest you don’t buy is a plastic full size mannequin. She and I go round and round everyday because she likes to be naughty. Well maybe I’m naughty because I put her outside every day, and she falls over when the wind blows. She had a squished boob and a crooked leg. Minus that, she’s helped my business tremendously by putting a new outfit on her and sticking her outside. When it was real hot, I put a grass skirt on her and wrapped her top in plastic lei’s. That got a lot of attention. One thing that get’s attention also is my laughing mannequin head. I use her to display new jewelry and right now she has on a red and purple hat. Lighting at my front windows will be in my future.
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The hanger stackers are invaluable–they take up alot less floor space, and we’re not constantly having to unsnarl/pick up/fall over wads of hangers. Plus, it keeps them from reproducing too much when we aren’t there. 🙂
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In our kids/maternity store we have a couple of those hanger stackers, but we don’t use them for regular hangers (those have a shower curtain rod under the counter top). We use them for the clip hangers, the wider end of the stacker for adult clip hangers, the narrow end for the kids size clip hangers. The horizontal space between the plastic and the metal piece that holds the clip slips right over the stackers…doubling the quantity of hangers!
We carry Melissa and Doug toys and last summer discontinued the puppets…the fixture was reclaimed to display hats and bonnets and you would not believe how many times we are restocking it! Standing about 6 ft tall, it spins and shows off 5-6 dz hats!
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Hey, you are THE thrifty shopkeeper… both your ideas are good. Isn’t it amazing how the proper fixture can add so much to not only your bottom line, but more importantly, to your customers finding what they want and need!
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We have a number of the adjustable “plate holders” as pictured above and they work great for random things.. We carry new Melissa & Doug puzzles and art items and these work great to display them, otherwise would be sitting flat on the shelf. These work on the top shelf to make it look nicer and viewable.
I’m on my way to ordering a bunch of the hanger stackers 🙂 We use the boxes or plastic tubs to hold the hangers currently, which works but it doesn’t look great and the hangers are always tangled to each other. I’m so ordering these… right now!
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I cannot IMAGINE the hours spent untangling hangers! Makes me shiver 😉
The thing I always wanted and wouldn’t let myself have is a revolving hat stand. So much easier than finding horizontal space for those styrofoam heads, and customers would have been much more likely to try them on…
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Lighting at the front window is something that I’ve wanted to do since we opened over a year and a half ago, to leave on over night… Track lighting just might be our solution, thanks!
We got a sunglasses holder from Store Supply, https://www.storesupply.com/pc-12574-834-24-pair-rotating-eyeglasssunglass-display-55201.aspx , we keep it on our checkout counter with glasses for sale that we buy wholesale for about $1.20 each and sell for $3.99 each. It works great and looks really good full, we bought a second one to bring to the Farmers Market and other events we go to… The price of product is good for add-ons.
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$70.00 worth of track lighting for my front window !!! What a difference
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Oh YES… proper lighting, and adjustable too, for displays = SUCH a great, professional look!
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