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Another Favorite Thing at my absolute complete perfect favorite price

March 23, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

blog32308.pngAs you all know, my favorite price is free. And my favorite activity is planning consignment, resale, and thrift stores.

And my LEAST-FAVORITE thing is yanking and tugging clothing racks, especially full clothing racks, around a store.

You probably agree. In fact, you’d probably rearrange your shop, if it weren’t such a pain to do (do you hear me, local shop with New Year’s Eve dresses front and center at Eastertime?). Wouldn’t it be great to rearrange your shop sitting down?

Voila! A new Favorite Thing: Arrange-a-Room, courtesy of BH&G.

So how could Continue Reading »

Posted in My Favorite Things | 3 Comments »

What we all can learn from Girl Scout cookies

March 20, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Sunday evening I was waylaid by an earnest young female in a vest covered in patches showing her achievements. I mean, wasn’t it my patriotic or gender-duty to buy some Girl Scout cookies? Of course it was.

When I got home (yes, I did wait until I was safely off the road before ripping into that box of Thin Mints) I noticed something very interesting. Or maybe it was interesting only to my chocolate-befuddled brain.

The same traits that make a good Girl Scout (or at least, that make good GS cookie package copy) make Continue Reading »

Posted in economics of resale, Slices of (my) life | 1 Comment »

So now you know…this is me BEFORE the phone booth

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

Manatee Historic Village StorytellingYou know how mild-mannered Clark Kent, unassuming reporter, steps into the phone booth and comes out Superman? Well, this is Katydid, Florida Storyteller, before the transformation into Auntie Kate The Resale Guru.

And you thought I was all business, I bet.

Okay, just ONE little business tip. If you truly use all the Too Good to be Threw Products for the Professional Resaler information in your consignment, resale, or thrift shop, you TOO can spend your March Saturdays wandering through a live oak-canopied park, telling silly stories. Or whatever you truly long to do 😉

More of Kate’s retail and resale wisdom at Too Good to be Threw, home of The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops, as well as consumer-focused thoughts at HowToConsign.com where you can find a professional resale shop

Posted in Slices of (my) life | 1 Comment »

Another View on Resale

March 14, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Ya know, you don’t have to sell used stuff as-is.

You don’t have to be “just” a consignment or thrift or resale shop. You can be (or inspire!) an innovator! There’s all sorts of wonderful ways to reUse. (Maybe I should add that to HowToConsign’s motto of ReSell RePlace ReJoice!)resellfull.gif

Some crafters doing clever things:

Sweet Pepita on Etsy takes parental band t’s and more and makes them into garments for the coming generation. Another Etsy member, Hyena, does a variety of things with…a variety of things.

Those Hefty bags full of no-thank-you’s that clutter up your back room? Get out Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | 4 Comments »

Are you giving away the store?

March 13, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

I was alarmed at the enthusiasm with which my peers at TGtbT.com, Too Good to be Threw| Products for the Professional Resaler, greeted the idea of using February 29 as an opportunity to offer a 29% discount. Many shops offered that on everything in the store… without, methinks, stopping to consider whether their profit margin is even 29% to start with (most consignment and resale shops are not at that margin, believe me!)

Is it wise to give away the store…even if you “can afford the markdown one day in 4 years”, as one shopkeeper said?

I’m here to say that no, it’s not. We all know that marking down works…very well, to train shoppers to expect markdowns, regardless of how reasonable your prices are. Here’s what Saks does: It’s called spend$ome get$ome, it’s a one-day and several-times-a-year promo and Continue Reading »

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk | 4 Comments »

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