I despise hosting my own home garage sales. I’ve done it a couple of times with minimal success. It’s a lot of prep work, hard to do alone (what about potty and meal break?) and harder to do in the rain (it’s cold and no one comes). I hate to bargain so my prices are ridiculously low. I just want the junk out of my house. Once it makes it to the garage, anything left over can’t return home. It keeps on trucking until it hits the Goodwill.
I’ve often said I should gather up my junk and do the Royal Oak Garage Sale one of these years. After all, the Chamber of Commerce does all the advertising, cutting out one expense. For the price of a stall, I would have hundreds of people milling by, thus increasing foot traffic past my assortment of bric-a-brac.
Yesterday that dream came to a crashing stop.
As I strolled by the tables yesterday, I realized the items carried little appeal. There were some interesting pieces, but none with the panache of past years' offerings. Vinyl albums? Meh. I get my record fix when I go out to California and hit up Amoeba Records. Antique musical instruments? Hardly any. Anything that looked like it might be old or unique was grossly overpriced. Everything else was new and ho-hum and grossly overpriced. What with TV, internet, and warehouse shopping, one doesn’t need a personal demonstration of Sham-Wow.
Many onlookers were like me, not buying, just browsing. I spent less than $10 for a few pieces to use in my jewelry-making ventures. It was largely unsatisfying.
I came home and gave my closet and garage the once-over. I don’t have much stuff, and my junk is just not that interesting. In a recession, it’s even less so. The face value of my cast-offs has declined with the stock market, housing prices, and everything else.
Maybe I’ll save it for the grandkids.
Article comments
1 - roger nowosielski
Are you saying, Joanne, this is symptomatic of the Depression (yes, I called it by its right name)? One should think that garage sales would be popular in hard times. When I was in the Bay Area (barely a year ago), they had regular flee markets on weekends. But that was a year ago. Things aren't better now, only worse.
What's the matter with the Culture section, BTW? Hardly anyone responds. It may be a waste of time to post your stuff here.
2 - Joanne Huspek
Roger, you are right about the response. Actually, have you taken a look at the Book and the TV/Video section? Very little response too. Like I tell people, Roger, I'm here building a platform twig by twig. :-)
3 - roger nowosielski
Well, Joanne, it ain't gonna happen if culture is not the people's agenda. But they sure like their diversions, like DVDs and movies.