Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Thrift’

Who’s your Ideal Consignor…Donor…Seller?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on March 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

Who’s your Ideal Consignor…Donor…Seller?

And how (more…)

Read Full Post »

Not-for-Profit Thrift Shops: Improving Donations

Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged on February 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

reach out to those in your community with quality items to donate

Reach out to those in your community with quality items to donate.

It’s not easy, being a NFP thrift store these days. (Not that it ever was.) You’d like to reach out to those in your community with quality items to donate to your worthy cause.

But how, with the limited budget and resources most charitable stores operate under?

Rung, a newly-formed NFP store benefiting the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis, has a Boutique-of-the-Month program going.

A new-merchandise shop which is likely to have a clientele that is amenable to Rung’s mission, generous with donations, and willing to work with Rung, can gain recognition by becoming a drop-off point for better donations.

See what it looks like to the public. And a PDF explaining it all to participating boutiques.

Sounds like it could be a win/win, especially if the “real” store is willing to put forth a decent effort in getting their customers involved.

More on NFP/ charity thrift shopkeeping:

If you aren’t an NFP shop but know and love one, why not send them an email linking to this post? Could be, you’d be helping a charity, and building bonds with your non-profit peers. I am sure they’d appreciate it!

Save

Read Full Post »

What’s the difference?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on October 10, 2010| 4 Comments »

A phrase has been on my mind for a few months now:“Dusty musty thrift store.”

It’s most often used by journalists but it reflects what so many (as many as 9 out of 10) people think about used, secondhand, thrift, consignment, resale shops. Now maybe you, as a resale shopkeeper, would like to think that “dusty musty thrift store” is no longer true. That the public no longer thinks of our industry as sub-standard. But in your heart-of-hearts, you know

there’s a vast difference between “new” stores and “used” stores.

.

Without peeking at the store signage or the price tags, every one of us can tell, just by looking around, whether a store sells new or used. My question, and what I’ve been trying to put my finger on, is

What’s the difference? (more…)

Read Full Post »

What can a shopkeeper be for Halloween?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on October 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

It’s fun to plan a Halloween costume, but what can you work in all day long as a shopkeeper? You’ll be uncomfortable in that (more…)

Read Full Post »

Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month, consignment and resale and thrift shops.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on October 1, 2010| 1 Comment »

It’s October, and you know what that means. Two things.Big Tag Sale is a good way to move some consigned goods

1: You’re overwhelmed with things to do and don’t need a complicated promotion this month.

Lots of customers, lots of incoming, having to move racks around and stay late to catch up and all that. No time for yet another task.

2: Your clientele probably feels very close to the cause of curing breast cancer.

Maybe you, probably them, have seen people whose lives and families were changed forever by breast cancer. You want to do what you can. Raise some money, raise some awareness, participate in your community.

Carolyn’s Bling your Bra Event’s great (here’s info on that idea, to tuck away for next October), but since it’s already October, it’s too late to organize that..

But the ABSOLUTE simplest way to participate? Take the BIG TAG idea from Sharing and turn it into a BIG PINK TAG event.

Here’s how:

1- Scout out some goods in your shop that you want to sell at a very good price. These should be items you are willing to donate the profits on to a breast-cancer charity. Leave them where they are on the sales floor; just have enough in mind to have 3-5 special deals for every day of your promotional event.

2- Make up some big pink tags. You might to laminate them, as in the above picture, because you’ll be using them all month long. Or just make a lot of them. On one side, put THE BIG PINK TAG SALE. On the backside, explain what you’re doing, for example Buy this special item at today’s special price and MyShop will donate the proceeds to NameofCharity. At the same time, make up window signs, dressing room signs, and bag stuffers.

2a. Plan daily tweets and Facebook and blog messages for the time period of your event.

3- Pick out a charity to receive the funds. Get a big see-through jar or plexiglass box to put money into. Make a matching pink sign for this jar: MyShop’s Customers Support NameofCharity through their purchases of our BIG PINK TAG SALE.

4- Every morning, choose a few items to feature. Do the markdown on the price tag, NOT on the BIG PINK TAG, which you will be moving from item to item throughout the event.

5- When a customer purchases an item, take the appropriate cash out of your till (whether she’s paid by credit card, check or cash) and deposit it, with a flourish, into THE BIG PINK TAG SALE jar so she and the rest of your shoppers can see the good their purchases can do.

6- When you total the contributions, don’t just send off a check. Invite the local honcho of the charity, or a local celeb who’s involved, to your shop to receive one of those funky “giant check” donations. Invite the press there to the presentation or take a picture yourself to use with a press release. You want the community to know not just that you’re a good soul (which of course you are), but that your business participates in the community.

Things to keep in mind:

  • Keep your donations jar visible, to motivate people to ask what it’s all about,  but safe from theft.
  • Keep enough currency in the jar to show your customers that others are participating, but not so much that they feel that you’ve collected enough.
  • Move the BIG PINK TAGS to different merchandise every day, even if yesterday’s featured items haven’t sold. Encourage customers to stop in every day to see what’s “special for our charity drive.”
  • Choose a wide variety of items to feature: a lamp and a chair and a picture one day, a toy and a hat and a pair of shoes the next.
  • It may not be necessary to slash an item’s price even more than you already have, if it’s really a good deal.

The discussion about BIG TAG SALES is  here.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »