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The first Saturday in January rang in the first good day for garage saling following a bit of a dry spell. I'm grateful for the rain. But it sure can dampen the spirits of garage-sale lovers.
"It really irritated me because there weren't enough sales," said avid garage saler Robin Johnson of Mesa.
That's right, treasure hunters like Robin and I just went through a really rough period - you might call it a bit of a garage-sale drought. Thanks to miserable conditions three weekends in a row with cold, wet, windy weather - and then the holidays - garage sales seemed to evaporate in the Valley.
But aahhh . . . January would bring mild conditions and, as a result, an abundance of sellers and buyers.
"I've never seen anything like it. It's been a hoot," said Gina Simpson, who along with a friend was holding a garage sale in Gilbert.
When I pulled up to their sale, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were nearly 50 people gathered in the tiny front yard picking through boxes and looking at furniture. That's a lot of folks because typically, I might see a dozen or so shoppers at an average sale.
"We were planning on doing this several weekends ago but the rain caused us to cancel it. So, we've been ready to get rid of this stuff," Gina told me in between making change for customers. They made nearly $500 in just four hours and sold almost everything.
]]>Here are some tips for throwing a low-hassle, high-profit garage sale:
Ask neighbors to join in. When it comes to garage sales, the axiom "the more the merrier" holds true. The more browse-worthy stuff on display at the sale, the easier it is to draw in buyers.
Select sales items carefully. Whatever you're trying to sell, you have a much better chance of selling it if it's clean, particularly when it comes to clothes.
Group objects by type and display them on clean, sturdy surfaces. If you're selling smaller items, like hair clips or costume jewelry, consider grouping them in plastic bags.
Tag everything with a suggested price. It helps to minimize confusion and discourage prolonged negotiations.
]]>For many who came Saturday, the ninth annual "World's Greatest Garage Sale" at the Monroe County Fair & Expo Center in Henrietta, was a gigantic treasure box to dig through.
"This is the thing I get excited about all year," said Fran Lander, of Le Roy, Genesee County. "We make sure we come every year."
This year, Lander had come in search of a glass teapot and didn't find it. "But I found everything else," she said, leaning up against a cart filled with pillows, clocks, baskets and other odds and ends.
In another corner, Greece resident Josiane Laloggia scanned over painted dishes and mirrored vanity sets — "just to see if I can't find some good deals," she said. Already, she'd purchased a Gorham crystal ball for $2.
"And you can't beat that," chimed in sister-in-law Janice Laloggia of Fairport.
]]>Dallas city policy currently allows residents to hold two garage sales at their homes per year. Each sale can each be up to three days in a row.
But Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia said too many residents are abusing the system, causing traffic problems and disrupting neighborhoods with frequent sales.
Dr. Garcia said it's not uncommon to see people virtually running businesses by selling new merchandise from their homes or from empty lots.
Some offenders, she said, have been documented using department store-quality clothes racks to sell used apparel.
"It's resale, not a garage sale," Dr. Garcia said of the illegal home-based enterprises.
Both Dr. Garcia and employees of the city's Code Compliance office are analyzing proposals to change Dallas' garage sale ordinance to require residents to register with the city before each sale.
]]>Steve owns and operates a quaint and cozy adobe-style hotel in Sedona with his wife, Connie. It's a small place, with only 12 rooms, but it's extremely well-appointed with top-notch furnishings and accessories. I could tell, however, these things - with their unique patina and historic character - couldn't be recent store purchases. There was clearly more adventure involved in acquiring these treasures.
My husband and I went to Sedona for a bit of hiking, relaxation and, yes, garage saling. I chose the El Portal Hotel, not knowing the owner was an avid garage saler.
I sauntered into the hotel lobby with its stone fireplace and interesting accessories just before dawn in search of my first cup of coffee when I spotted Steve reading the paper. I just had to know.
"Do you garage sale?"
"Oh, yes. Just about everything you see in this hotel comes from garage sales and flea markets," he told me enthusiastically. I knew it!
We shared stories of our favorite finds - mine is a 7-foot-tall iron candelabrum I got at a garage sale in Scottsdale for $10. Steve's favorite finds involve more money . . . a lot more. He knows quality when he sees it and isn't afraid to spend hundreds, sometimes thousands, on rare finds.
The native Californian has worked long hours in various ventures - including the newspaper and pet-food industries - but would always make time to go to garage sales. He bought so much, in fact, he had to buy a warehouse in which to store everything. "We collect and collect. And friends would come over to the house and say, 'You know, you have 14 lamps in your living room. So, we had our stuff everywhere."
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Business was great on Friday. They unloaded more than half their items. Saturday was slower but it was still action-packed. Something the Cowgills could've done without.
It was early in the day when a Grinch stopped by. It happened during a busy time, when at least four cars with buyers had stopped at the same time.
"Folks were asking lots of questions and my wife was making change," Clay said. "We were swamped." That's when another woman asked Mae if she could break a $50 bill.
Clay piped in his opinion: "I told the woman it depended on how much she bought. And she turned around and grabbed something right beside her and said, 'How about this?' " The woman picked up a few craft items totaling $9. Clay gave her the change and she and her male companion left.
All seemed well until it came time to count the money. The Cowgills noticed that $50 bill didn't look quite right.
"The front side looked fine but the back looked kind of funny," Clay said. "So, we went over to the bank and they verified that it was a counterfeit . . . and a pretty good one."
Turns out the bill was slightly smaller than regular U.S. currency and an identifying watermark was missing. So, the criminals paid with a fake 50 and made away with $41 of Clay's real money.
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Well, there is a posted price -- but there's also a sale on, we've got this coupon from the paper, and we've got a store loyalty card and a frequentbuyer punch card, and using this credit card gives us a discount, except that they say they honor competitor's coupons and we've got one of those, but they also will beat any competitor's price and we've got an ad, but then again they might be having an even better deal next week, and won't we feel foolish paying more, so maybe we should ask what kind of deal they can do for us ...
Welcome to the retail pricing game, circa 2007.
It's a game -- or maybe contest of wills is the better description for it -- that neither retailer nor consumer claims to enjoy playing. Every year, though, both play it ever more enthusiastically, or desperately, as though neither can escape it.
Retailers could get out of this if they wanted to. Just declare a basic price, stick to it, avoid the increasingly complicated discount schemes and hold sales so occasionally that they're actually special events when they occur.
But then ... who wants to run the risk of chasing away potential customers who have been conditioned to expect some sort of discount all day every day -- especially in such a dodgy economic climate?
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