Well, I suppose it had to happen eventually. Labor Day has come and gone, and now it's time for the annual Back to School ballyhoo-- parents cheering in their corner, and kids moping in theirs. But for me, the end of summer means the end of all the fabulous yard sales and flea markets! Oh sure, there may be a few more yard sale weekends left for all the slackers who couldn't get it together during the summer, but for all intents and purposes, yard sale season is officially over.
If you're a collector, you love going through other people's old junk. But once yard sales and flea markets stop, where can you treasure hunt during the cold winter months? Is it even possible?
The answer is yes, of course it's possible. And I will share some of my best tips with you for finding what you're looking for. (This list is geared towards American collectors, as it's where I'm from, but maybe it will be helpful to those in other countries as well.)
1. Goodwill or Salvation Army
Goodwill and Salvation Army are open year round, and there is probably at least one or the other somewhere nearby where you live. These places can be treasure troves of donated goods. To be honest, I seem to have better luck at Goodwill, but I have had some good scores at Salvation Army too. The best advice I can give is don't just visit once, get disappointed when you don't find anything good, and then give up. Their inventory always changes as new donations come in, so you have to go regularly in order to find what you're looking for. Try to go at least a few times a week if you can, and you don't need to go first thing in the morning because the employees stock shelves throughout the day. And make sure that you look around the entire store, and dig through piles of items if you have to. Many people don't look hard enough and I guarantee you'll miss out on some pretty amazing things if you don't take your time and really look at everything!
2. Other local thrift stores and consignment shops
Goodwill and Salvation Army aren't the only game in town. You may also have some locally owned thrift stores or consignment shops in your area. Check out the Yellow Pages and do some digging around in Google, because a lot of times these little hole in the wall places are where you can find the best deals. And many times, the big name dealers overlook these places in favor of the bigger fish like Goodwill and Salvation Army. And sometimes, if you can get friendly with the proprietor, he or she will notify you if anything that you're looking for comes into the store.
3. Antique stores/Antique malls
Now personally, I don't have a lot of luck at these places. I guess it's because I collect and deal in toys. However, if you're into glassware or household items, these can be a goldmine. The downside is that a lot of times the proprietors know their stuff, and they price it accordingly. However, I will say that they don't always know the values of newer items like toys, so you might be able to get a deal. For example, earlier this year I bought a huge basket of 90's mini Pound Puppies/Purries/Piggies/Ponies from one of these places, kept what I wanted, and still managed to make a tidy little profit from selling the rest.
4. Indoor Flea Markets
Again, you'll have to hunt around to find these. But they are out there, and they're open year round, although usually they aren't open every day like the other places mentioned above. Most of them are only open on the weekends, or only on Sundays, or something to that effect. Like yard sales, you want to try and get there as early as you can to find the best deals. Quality varies depending upon the dealers, but they can be great places to find what you're looking for, with reasonable and sometimes even obscenely cheap prices. And again, don't be afraid to dig through piles of things! Make sure you check underneath the tables as well for boxes of items to look through as well. And don't be afraid to haggle with the dealers, especially if you're buying a group of items.
Well, this post is getting long, and I don't want to overwhelm anyone with too much information. So I will finish up my list in the next post. Look for more hunting tips soon! And in the meantime, try some of these out, because they really do work.
