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Can’t be a retail success unless you’re open

September 19, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Have a retail shop, whether it’s selling secondhand goods or new? Whether you’re a consignment shop or a car dealer, a resale store or a rug merchant, a charity thrift or a chair store…you have to be OPEN.

OPEN for business. Yes, that, of course. You have to unlock the door to your shop. But that’s just the first step.

You also have to OPEN your mind to different ways of doing things. You have to unlock your mind from the well-worn ruts it’s in. If you never do something new you’ll never Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk |

How many resalers beat Old Navy to the punch?

September 18, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Here’s a well-respected blogger’s entry for today:

A nice, simple word of mouth campaign

(Pardon me while I roll my eyes: Haven’t a LOT of resale and consignment shops offered this as a standard course of promotion for a while now? After all, secondhand shopkeepers are the Queens and Kings of Make-Do!)

And YOUR customers didn’t have to have a Facebook account to see your offer, now did they?

Looks like Andy Semovitz might wish to drop in on Sharing to Share in YOUR creativity. Damn, I wish I’d said that. 😉

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | 2 Comments »

Go on, gedoutta here.

September 17, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

It’s possible to get TOO narrowly focused on your shop. So, for consignment, resale, and thrift shopkeepers, a wider view to expand your horizons:

Springwise: Get fresh entrepreneurial ideas

The new A to Z of fashion

The Story of Stuff

Posted in Shopkeeping talk |

Halloween’s a MONSTER in Resale Shops

September 16, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

You know what? It doesn’t matter if your consignment or resale shop makes a single penny profit from the sale of Halloween costumes.

Halloween’s a major traffic-builder for every secondhand shop from the lowliest, most-modest thrift store to the glitziest “designer boutique shoppe.”

In fact, if you have to, I’d even recommend that you market and display Halloween costumes at an actual LOSS if that is what it would take to get your shop noticed for Halloween. To find out why I would say such a thing, read TGtbT.com ‘s double Product, How to Have a Frightfully Good Halloween/ Holidays in Resale.

Halloween is the one holiday that’s destined to make your consignment shop more successful, your resale shop richer, and bring more daily traffic to your thrift. Don’t whistle past the graveyard: embrace your inner skeleton.

Save

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | 3 Comments »

You know that T-shirt with the stain?

September 15, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

The one that fits JUST right, that’s at the perfect well-washed stage, that’s the one color in the universe that makes you happy? But it’s got a big blotch here and a series of small stains there?

Turn it into your peep-show, art-exhibit T, if you dare, by replacing the spots with a spotlight: a vinyl pouch in which you can insert whatever seems just right today.

Exhibit your business card or your latest coupon. The wallet-size of your youngest, or the collection of single earrings that inevitably collect in any consignment or resale shop. Rubber snake anyone?

Just one of the great ideas (and some really lame ones, but we won’t agree on which is which, which is all the fun!) at Readymade.com. And I won’t tell if you add a peep-hole where there wasn’t a stain 😉

Update: Readymade took down this cute idea. 😦  But Martha can show you how to turn a fav T into a shopping tote. 😉 And some amazing recycled t-shirt sewing projects here.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | 1 Comment »

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