Too busy to browse?

Keeping up with all the info on the web could be a full-time job…if you let it!

But then who’d colorize the earrings, dust the shelves (as if), Windex the mirrors?

Being a shopkeeper’s time-consuming. Being an imformed shopkeeper’s even more time-consuming.

Now, Kate’s got

Buy your shop a merry little Christmas!

Everyone loves holiday gifts. . . even your shop!

Now that you’ve finished your holiday shopping, find some gifts for your beloved shop. The better your shop looks and functions, the more money you’ll make to spend on…your loved ones NEXT holiday (or that

One of the cutest consignment, resale, vintage names ever

If you had a traveling vintage clothing business, what would YOU name it?

And if you could find a cool old aluminum trailer

Consignment Mailbox: Blowing up snowmen

One of our Sharers asks:

“How can I make nice signs for my windows?

“I don’t have very good handwriting, but I need signs bigger than those I can make on my computer.

Help! I can’t afford the sign shop’s costs, not when I change my window signage every week!”

Kate replies:

There’s several

Recycling, regifting and repurposing previously- cherished…

Need a holiday poster for your consignment, resale, thrift shop?

Here’s one for you, from me, to wish you a happy holiday and a Merry Thrifty one too!

Download the full-size file

Hiding your (holiday) lights under a bushel.

Okay, so you’ve planned a Local Artist’s Fair for the Saturday before Thanksgiving in your consignment shop.

Great! Count on me!

I’ll be there. Look at those terrific offerings in the email body text. What resale shopper in her right mind wouldn’t

Wait! Maybe that’s NOT an NTY*!

Flannel shirt, rhinestones, needs pressing. $190.

WAIT! Don’t hand that Leslie Lucks 80’s shoulder-padded jacket…the one missing its skirt…back to that lady! It’s worth $250 on the Internet! Even without the skirt!

It’s not an NTY!*

Rhinestone tennis bracelet? $25. Gunne Sax “prom” dress (I personally sold at least 629 of these the first time around to teens in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Columbus OH…so many, we had to keep records of which dress was going, in which color, to which prom) $190. How about a

Translating “Business Articles” into your Shop

There’s a lot of good information out there, especially on the web, for resale and consignment shops and for non-profit thrift stores as well.

Trouble is, sometimes it’s hard to translate advice written by and aimed towards corporations with  more hierarchy than our businesses.

Here’s an article from Andy Sernovitz which is easier to see ourselves in than most. The black type is Andy, the red is my

How to write to Santa

A Christmas/ Holiday Thrifty Idea for consignment and resale shops:

How to write to Santa: Now THAT’s an eye-catching email headline from your consignment or resale shop right about now!

And best of all, it’s an email you won’t even have to write…because it’s already been done…as a press release from the USPS. There’s even

Quote for the Day

“About all you can do in life
is be who you are.
Some people will love you for you.
Most will love you for what you can do for them,
and some won’t like you at all.”
– Rita Mae Brown

I DO wish I could remember this, myself.

Friday the 13th: Making your own Bad Luck

“Bad luck!” we say, when really, half the time we’re thinking

“If you’d only done thus-and-such, you wouldn’t be in such a predicament.”

It’s not that

How much is a new customer worth? A burrito?

Is a new customer worth a burrito?. Read this blogger’s thought. The author suggests that perhaps, we make our marketing more difficult than it is.

How about a

The display window you didn’t know you have.

Big black hole. What a waste!

If you have a glass entry to your shop, you have one more display window than you realize.

Look at all that empty display area, just waiting to be filled last thing before you leave every evening!

Why not give after-hours strollers something to look at, something to admire and covet…or even something to tell them a bit more about your shop?

It’s not hard to do. It can be as simple as

Why Consignment & Resale Shops Shouldn’t Give Up the (Christmas) Ghost

I hope you’re knee-and-elbow deep in Christmas (Holiday, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice etc) planning this weekend. I hope your expectations for the holiday selling period in your consignment (resale, thrift etc) shop are great.

But I suspect they are not. And worse, I suspect that your very expectations are going to be self-fulfilling.

If you do not

Stop Giving Cash Off in your Consignment Shop NOW

No more $5 off a $35 purchase or $10 off a $50 purchase or whatever you have been doing; STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

Really.

At least for now.

Here’s what you do instead:

You give