Two More Used Goods/Collectibles Shops Gone Belly-Up

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
There used to be a shop in Halfmoon called "The Garage Sale" toting itself as "The largest indoor year-round garage sale". That has gone OOB and a sign in front "FOR RENT". Also I noticed when I went to the post office the shop across the street called Woodland Treasures was dark and empty. I had been in there before and told the proprietor I had a houseful of things to liquidate. She never responded. Here is pic of it when it was in business:

woodland.jpg
 

For me, the thing that has changed is the internet.

I can shop for collectibles all over the world and have my finds delivered to my home.

eBay saves me a lot of time by allowing me to have automatic searches performed each day for new listings that generate an email notifying me of the items.

I still enjoy going for a ride to check out shops and private sales but it does not usually generate anything very exciting.
 
debodun said:
Back in the 70s and 80s, you couldn't leave your garage door open unless someone pulled up and asked if you were having a garage sale. Now you can't get people to stop if you threw yourself in the street. What has changed between then and now?
Click to expand...

People don't repair like they did back then either. Now everything has planned obsolescence factored in and is therefore disposable/replaceable. I think people just buy brand new and forget about thrifting. It's part of the annihilation of the middle class.

I think if you did throw yourself in the street, you'd get people to stop. 😄
 
The virus has pretty much brought casual shopping to a screeching halt here. There are restrictions on how many people can be in a store, mask mandates, etc. Many stores are still closed. I don't think garage sale type things are allowed nowbut I'm not sure. I sure haven't seen any in a long time.

I used to like to go out and just look around in stores, but not now.
 
Our second-hand stores are also struggling, as are the charity thrift shops.

Before the pandemic we used Freecycle, which was terrific because we could "rehome" the things we no longer needed to other people in our area. Even some broken things went to people who like to tinker or could use the parts for something else. We met some really nice folks that way, too. But now we're reluctant to have strangers come by, even just into our garage. We've ended up putting some items at the curb for people to take.
 
We lost a couple of resale shops here. What surprised me was when a dollar store went out of business. Several bars have permanently closed down. We really are caught between a rock and a hard spot right now. Fears of catching or transmitting the virus against businesses suffering, their employees out of work, and the economy sinking. Plus our children's education is really in trouble. But, children have a way of rebounding and catching up when the chips are down.

My daughter-in-law is a nurse and works four days a week. My son is able to stay home with my granddaughter. He works from home every other week and is 'furloughed' the other weeks. This might very well be the "new normal" for quite sometime. Without a vaccine, I just don't see anything changing.
 
I think there a number of reasons why small stores tend to fold up. One is that the owners are the primary staff. And eventually, they can no longer keep up running the place. Plus the price of most products has come down, relatively. Why buy a used 'geraffin' @$10, when a brand new one costs $11. Shutting down due to the virus isn't helping. There's no income, but you still have to pay rent, utilities, taxes, etc.
 
Luckily there are still yard sales where I live, and a vintage clothing store in the burbs. Some yards sales are free now. No money changes hands so you don't run into a lot of people and don't have to wear a mask if you don't want to or cannot social distance. I can't wear masks due to a medical condition, but I dug out some really thin chiffon scarves I can put over my nose and mouth if a yard sale with little space and lots of people requires it. If I'm outdoors, I can stand it for a few minutes, but most yard sales are free now and you never even meet your hosts.

Regarding cleanliness, you can wash some items, which I did and a lot of items I picked up at the most recent yard sale I went to were new and wrapped. Fine with me. I want to save money right now because I fear what the future may hold and thrifting really helps me.
 
The closing, re-opening then re-closing was very costly considering the purchasing of the cleaning equipment, etc. only to learn you will be closing again not to mention laying off people that hired on for only a few weeks.
 
I'm not so sure I would want to have a garage sale these days. I notice when I go to Walmart some still don't wear masks or they aren't wearing them properly. Some don't watch their distancing either.
If they don't do it in the store I'm pretty sure they won't do it at a garage sale.
I think it would be hard to monitor how many people are at your sale at a time and I bet many would get pretty feisty if they have to wait in their car.
The person having the sale may put a lot of time and effort into setting up the sale and people may not show because of the virus.
To many if's for me.
 


Back
Top