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Two decades of working with consignment & resale shops

March 9, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Just the other day, took my polka-dot PT to the printers and brought home the 20th Anniversary edition of Too Good to be Threw, The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops.The first edition of TGtbT

Hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since I crawled on my hands and knees across my living-room floor for months, organizing colored index cards into the first edition of my Manual. Never before had there been such a book. How to organize all that information? How to present it in a way that maybe, some folks might find helpful?

I had written Continue Reading »

Posted in Slices of (my) life | Tagged | 5 Comments »

Recession? In resale? Ya gotta be kidding

March 4, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

Reporters mass outside my office, thrusting their microphones and notepads and e-mail messages under my nose:Reporters think there's a recession?

  • Is resale feeling the pinch of inflation?
  • You consignment shops deal with folks on the fringes of economic security, don’t you? What are you experiencing Continue Reading »

Posted in economics of resale | 12 Comments »

A novel approach to gaining suppliers

March 2, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

cheating350.jpgThis snapshot of a shop’s sign (I’d credit the shop, if I could figure out who/what/where) is interesting. But for us resalers,

the sign and its approach to gaining suppliers is even more interesting.

How does, do you think, a sense of humor go over with potential clients of your shop? Will you attract more than you will turn off?

Certainly the headline of this sign, or of this message turned into an ad, an email, a blog post… will get folks reading, assuming your pool of potential customers is mostly Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk | Tagged , | 4 Comments »

Done your STRETCHING Today?

February 29, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

ImageChef Custom Images

Since it’s Leap Day and all…and you get an extra day to do something you really WANT to do…I hope you do some STRETCHING today.

Anyone who’s ever exercised understands about stretching. It’s that feels-so-good-it-hurts segment of your routine, where you can FEEL Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk |

What we can learn from Starbucks

February 27, 2008 by Auntie Kate of Too Good to be Threw

The brand is just about EVERYWHERE… good or bad. I mean, for heaven’s sake, when I want to impress upon my resale, consignment, and thrift shopkeepers how they are probably tossing away more money than it would cost to be a Sponsored link at HowToConsign.com, I use the example of “costs less than your daily Starbucks.”

(We’ll ignore the fact that I personally, having received a Starbucks gift card as a thank-you for working on a charitable committee. still haven’t found the time or impetus to USE it, over a year later…)

And we will put aside my dislike of the cloning of America (and the world!) with look-alike, corporate-run, who-gives-a-**-about YOU businesses, to learn Continue Reading »

Posted in Shopkeeping talk |

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