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Posts Tagged ‘Thrift’

Are most of your customers women? Do they support other women?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on March 1, 2012| 3 Comments »

international womens dayAre most of your customers women? Do they support other women?

If so, you might wish to encourage them do so, using your consignment or resale shop to help. March 8 is International Women’s Day. Not a lot of lead time for those shopkeepers who haven’t planned ahead, but here are some ways you might use your shop to do some good:

  • Suggest donations to the movement, offering your clients an incentive to do so.
  • Host a small event, asking for specific donations as an “entry fee.”
  • Dedicate a percentage of sales on that day to a worthy charity whose mission is extending a helping hand to women.
  • Offer a discount on a purchase to those who bring in a donation on that day. Extend the discount through the weekend, perhaps March 8 to March 11, to allow for word-of-mouth to build your donation.
  • Dedicate proceeds from your dollar rack to a women’s charity for that same time period, labeling the rack and spreading the word via your social media.
  • Or simply do an attractive display of ODs in your swing shop that you will be donating to a specific local charity.

Get on the phone today to find a clothing or home goods pantry which helps the women of your area if you are not already working with such a group. See what donations would be most useful to them. Tell them what you can do to help. Ask for their assistance in getting the word out and publicizing your event. Even a small contribution from your business and its fans could make all the difference to those in need.

About International Women’s Day.

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Untapped consignment or donation resource?

Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on February 17, 2012| 7 Comments »

I got a phone call once from my area’s foremost dry cleaning company.Dry cleaners can be a source for consignment, resale & thrift shops.

“Wanna come look at our unclaimed stuff?”

So there I was, in the (more…)

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Open Here: Merchandising for Non-profit Thrift Stores

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged on February 8, 2012| 2 Comments »

Open to explore in a thrift shopI was in a non-profit thrift store the other day, and they were doing many things right… but they missed what I think would be a wonderful opportunity to cultivate the

“treasure-hunt”

aspect so many shoppers love about thrifts… and they’ve missed an opportunity as well to

maximize display space

and the resale store could even

increase the perceived value

of their merchandise with one simple sign.

Open Here.

Almost all those donated cabinets, armoires, and so on they use for display space have closed doors on the bottom half… and when I opened the doors (I am a VERY nosy customer!) these spaces were barren.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be invited, by a simple sign, to

Open Here

and discover a cunning little themed display? It could be something as simple as some items in related colors, like this turquoise group of books, vase, pitcher and doorstop; a group of related items such as all the 25th Wedding Anniversary items received; even an out-of-season holiday display. Or choose a theme: fairies or photo frames or garden accessories.

If your volunteers don’t have any interest or talent in creating appealing little vignettes, you could always change the “Open for a little surprise” sign to “Open for foreign-language books“, “Open for party decorations” or any category that you have which might not be tops in popularity…

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And finally, you can do this on a big scale… when you have some big-scale things to display, as in this old wardrobe, [temporary] home for other merchandise!

Photos from http://www.fourfinches.com, tparty.typepad.com, chippyshabby.blogspot.com.

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Eavesdrop on a consignment experience

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on January 11, 2012| 3 Comments »

Eavesdrop on a consignment experience.

This video is a great case study for shopkeepers and accepting staff. If we look at it not as “how to consign”… but “how to treat a potential consignor” we can take the opportunity to fine-tune our shops.

See if you can spot the lessons to be learned (I’ve listed some after the video.)

Okay, in order of occurrence:

At 0:30 she recounts a bad experience… hope you never react with “disdain”!

At 1:00 the consignee actually introduces herself to the incoming consignor. Do you and your staff do the same? It means a lot… makes the interaction between two people, rather than a person and a business.

At 1:15, the consignee gives the consignor a compliment on her items. I’ve bolded and italized that because you know? It seldom happens that a consignor hears a positive before a potential negative.

At 1:30, consignee takes the conversational opportunity to put in a plug for larger sizes by saying “big is great ’cause we don’t have enough.”

At 1:50, consignee passes on a NTY, without volunteering a reason. I’m sure she had one, but the CONSIGNOR (as seen by her video editing) didn’t consider it important. So if the consignor doesn’t care why, the consignee needn’t throw negative comments into the mix like “out of style,” “fake,” or “are you kidding, this is SO 20th-century.”

At 2:00, the consignee gives the consignor a good reason/excuse not to be concerned with unsold items at the end of the consignment period. Notice the lack of “if you want unsold items back, you must pick them up at X days”… because all most consignors hear is “you must pick up…”

At 2:10 the consignee has a great spiel about the charity the shop uses. Sweet!

At 2:30 the consignee might develop a good spiel about using store credit. The consignor had to ask, and the reply was not as motivating as it could have been.

Did I miss any lessons to be learned? Comment below!

My thanks to verygoodlooking.com for creating and posting this video. A blog I’ll be watching daily. I like Ms. Horchow’s presentation. Usually, these types of commentators are so smarmy and self-important, but I actually like Sally!

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New use for old entertainment centers

Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on December 28, 2011| 12 Comments »

Okay, for all of your furniture consignment shops, resale home decor places, non-profit thrift stores who get all those entertainment centers in…. that no one wants anymore.

I’ll bet you’re tired of suggesting to customers they could be turned into home offices

or pantries.

Or even laundry room organizers.

So here’s a new idea. Super-cute play kitchen (notice the poster as window! And the chandelier! I would have killed for my very own chandelier at that age.)

Entertainment center turned.... well, entertainment center, right?

Printing these ideas out, slipping them into a plastic sleeve or plexi sign holder to inspire browsers… might sell a few of those behemoths.

My thanks to Susan Carleton, who posted the pink kitchen photo on her Pinterest page and got me started on this. Warning! Don’t go to Pinterest. Even though I’m on it too. You’ll go on wondrous journeys throughout the internet while your laundry will mildew, your family members starve, and the hair on your legs will drape over your tennies.
 
Click the photos for sources… some of THEM, have their sources….

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