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

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

Wait! Maybe that’s NOT an NTY*!

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

The display window you didn’t know you have.

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

How many costumes have you received this week?

Did you let your consignors*, your sellers, or your donors know that you want those Halloween costumes now?
No?
Then do it forthwith! (That means make it snappy!)
Why? Because, yes, you can make money from costumes of all sorts the whole year ’round. Read on, for an article from a past issue of our print newsletter, [...]

Read Full Post »

5 things rich consignment & resale shopkeepers do differently than poor shopkeepers.

They plan ahead.
Do you have every event, every ad, every blog message, website change, consignor letter and bag-stuffer….even every display window theme, between now and the end of the year planned out? Know when and how you will let your prospective audience know about the events? If so, you may be a rich-shopkeeper-in-the-making.
 
They seize the [...]

Read Full Post »

Pumpkins all put away? Ready for a Merry Recycled Holiday?

For Consignment and Resale and Thrift Shops, a special Product for the Professional Resaler: Find out how to make November and December months that you’ll love!

 
Yes, [...]

Read Full Post »