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Savvy Auntie… not me, you.

April 5, 2011 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Well, of course my first thought when I saw the name, Savvy Auntie, of this web site was

“Gee, a fan page for Auntie Kate!”

But it turns out Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, Slices of (my) life | Tagged | 2 Comments »

Good-enough-to-chomp consignment shop Easter display

April 4, 2011 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

No insipid spring pastels for this fashionable shop for Easter.

Easter windows can look, well, a bit too Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

Teeny Tip: Cheapest Tricks & Best Buys for Resale Shops

April 1, 2011 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

A Too Good to be Threw Teeny Tip for Consignment, Thrift & Resale StoresA TGtbT.com Teeny Tip:

An excerpt from Resale’s Cheapest Tricks & Best Buys, one of the mini-Products for the Professional Resaler at Too Good to be Threw. See all the “Lunch with Kate” Products.

Here’s a $10-and-under spiff up for your shop. What better time than spring to make a few “Cheapest Tricks & Best Buys” changes?

Get interesting tiles: Ceramic tiles, priced from 50¢ to a dollar or two, come in all sorts of textures, from slate to shiny metallic glazes. Lay them loose in a showcase (try terra cotta under brass merchandise), as a temporary floor in your show window, as a table top.

Mirror tiles, too, add sparkle and light to just about any merchandise. If you sell furniture, put felt pads on the underside of mirror tiles and use to protect table tops from for-sale lamps and knick-knacks placed thereon.

Stick-on cork tiles make a terrific floor in your display window (you can pin hems!) or over wall-hung racks for light-weight wall displays.

Resale’s Cheapest Tricks & Best Buys is just one of the mini-Products for the Professional Resaler available on the Too Good to be Threw “Lunch with Kate” page. Keep a full selection on hand for inspiration in your consignment shop, for staff reading in your resale shop, and even as a supplement to your volunteer manual and training in your NFP thrift store. See which ones you need!

See more Teeny Tips for Consignment, Resale, and Thrift Shops from Auntie Kate.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, Teeny Tips | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

“My talent circle”…great concept for ALL resale shopkeepers

March 31, 2011 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Tara brought a new way of communicating a very important concept to Sharing, the TGtbT discussion board for resale professionals, the other day.

I’m a details person, meaning I like all the details to be done and done right. HOWEVER, I don’t have time to take care of every detail myself. Because payroll is a difficult one for me, I hire that one out and take care of the ones myself that are inside my “talent circle”…things I’m good at, that I can handle quite well myself, and that focus my physical, emotional, and mental energy in a way that makes me have MORE energy, not draining me of energy (like payroll and acct’ng stuff does).

Is it an expense I could get rid of? Yes. But at what cost?! In the beginning years of my biz, I wouldn’t have “splurged” on such a thing. Today it is a necessity to hire out some things that deplete me or just eat up my time, taking me away from the things that ONLY I can do. Hope that helps!

I love that phrase, talent circle…and even more, I love the concept. Why, indeed, do things that drain you of energy? Farm them out to someone who does it better and with more ease than you do, and spend your energies doing what YOU do BEST. When you are free, time-wise, mentally, imagination-wise, to do what you do best… you earn the right (and you are free to earn the cold cash) to hire someone to do what s/he does best, to take the load of onerous tasks off you.

I might even recommend that some things ARE worth “splurging” for, even in the beginning when money seems in short supply.

How many consignment and resale and even charitable thrift shops (with their supportive corporate boards), have not reached their potential, or even totally failed because they didn’t focus on their circles of talent, but instead slogged through the sucking quicksands of things they were not good at/ hated/ held them down from soaring to the heights of their true talents?

Tara owns Born Again Resale & Consignment in Idaho.
 

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Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

They aren’t paying attention, Part #2

March 30, 2011 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

They aren’t paying attention, Part #1, talks about quick little messages to your clientele that go right over their They aren't paying attention to your consignment or resale message.heads or through their minds with no lasting impression of your business.

Go ahead, read that first. I’ll wait….

Oh, you’re back? Do I have your attention? Okay…

They aren’t paying attention Part 2: Make sure they know who you ARE.

Many broadcast emails I receive Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments »

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