I was early this Saturday for a meeting, and decided to stop by a small consignment shop I’d visited before.
Theda Bara, shown here in 1917, would have loved to see your Weird & Wonderful shop racks!
It’s a perfectly-fine shop, and I’ve bought here before, so I thought I might find a treasure or two.
What I found?
The perfect reason to take a nap.
Talk about boring. Sure, they had every brand from Chico’s to St. John, sized and colorized… but nothing that got my juices flowing. I might as well have been at the mall.
Where’s the cut-velvet kimono? The funky muu-muu? The hand-carved wood birds from Mexico? Merchandise with personality, different stuff? In short…
Where’s the Weird & Wonderful?
When I asked my customers, the #1 reason they shopped with us before they went to the “real” stores? Selection. They anticipated finding stuff they couldn’t find at every store and every online site… stuff that would make them smile, stuff they couldn’t live without… something, in short, Weird & Wonderful.
What’s Weird & Wonderful? Well, for every market it’s different, but here’s some ideas:
Does your shop maintain a section like this? What do you call it, and what’s in it? Share in the comments below!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
I have a rack, or 2, that I call the Frida Kahlo department or alternatively Culture Club. Caftans, Mexican embroidery, Guatemalan, Moroccan, Indian, vintage leather, cowboy shirts, hand knit sweaters. …you get the idea.
Oh my gosh, I’d better keep my sister out of your shop… she loves that look so much she even has a Frida Pinterest board! 🙂
We have a camel saddle for sale at AK Secondhand. It’s a great conversation piece. We don’t have a special section of weird and wonderful merchandise. Our most interesting pieces are spread throughout the store, where they always seem to illicit a smile and comments when our shoppers discover them. ~Coleen
Thanks, Coleen, I bet you have fun with that camel saddle. After all, not too many people can ride a camel bareback 🙂
We loved having our section signed as Weird & Wonderful… made people smile, made them say “oh my cousin’s weird, she’d love this stuff!… only problem is when the consignor saw her beloved cocktail dress from the 60’s in that area 😉 But tucking interesting pieces in amongst the run-of-the-mill works, too!
We don’t call it anything in particular but we have a saying, “Weird Sells!”
Boy, ain’t THAT the truth, BTN! In fact, a technique I recommend to keep incoming down to a roar when needed seasonally, is to pass on the average stuff and save your space for the exceptional!