Weekend Finds

Welcome back to the internet's worst junk blogging finds rundown.  You know the drill:  pics on the fly, no staging, crappy lighting, etc.  I forgot to get pics of the stuff I left across the river on Saturday, so many of the interesting things from the Mazda shot are not even here.  Sorry about that.  I had a lot of smalls, so I only included the ones that I thought were interesting or blog-worthy.  A couple of things I saved for future posts, because some things just deserve it.  A good day junking should keep on giving, as far as the blog posts go!

Small brown tables with retro desk lamps

Saturday was one of those odd days where the peak came at the very first sales and then everything else was downhill from there.  Whenever that happens, there's a weird vibe that results.  I almost lose the thrill of the hunt as soon as we finish that first sale.  It becomes a struggle to keep going.  Add into this my stress over booth sales and situations, and I was having a really hard time keeping the momentum up.  Nevertheless, I persevered!  Shop on, I say!

So what was that first sale that was so very freaking awesome?  Why, the one put on by my very own neighborhood association!  They rent out spaces in a vacant lot not too far from the house and wonderment ensues!  It's always a good sale and there are bargains galore!  I made three trips back to the car before I finished the first row of booths.  I look forward to this one every year.  It's the sale that sets off the home stretch of fall sales for the year.  There are one or two other awesome mega sales coming and then the season will be over.  Sigh!

Painted shadow box

I had intended to set up at this sale this year, but starting the new booth kind of torpedoed those plans.  I'm starting to realize that I might not get another personal yard sale in this fall either.  Well, there's always next year, I guess!

Many of the large things in the Mazda shot came from this sale, including the orange top tables and the blue wicker bar stool.  They're all set up at the new booth.

Back to the yard sales.  After making like a jillion trips through the neighborhood lot sale, we set off to tackle my list.  Next stop was one that included this tantalizing phrase in their ad:  "vintage(?) comic books."  You know I was there!  I walked off with the whole lot after this little dialogue:

SCORE!  Good stuff in here and I got to take the tub too!

Seller:  Comics are a dollar each or three for two dollars.
Me:  How much for the lot?
Seller:  Count them up.
Me:  There's about 16 dollars worth in this stack.  (I counted by threes.)  The other stack is about the same size.  Could I get them both for $20?
Seller:  Can't do that.  I'd do $25.
Me:  SOLD!

That is how negotiations should work, my friends.  Bulk Buy Offer. Counter-Offer.  Boom!

Tin picnic basket.  Repro?

After that, it was hit or miss.  The next few sales yielded little to nothing.  The peak had been reached.  It was 9:30, and we were heading downhill quickly.  And there were too many choices and uncertainties.  Do I go with neighborhood sales that might waste time?  Or drive way out of my usual way for sales that might or might not be good?  I had a real battle with indecision going on.

In the end, I targeted a large adoption fundraiser sale and a small street sale as definite stops.  The adoption sale yielded a cheap Ikea end table and some smalls.  You can see the Ikea table in the Mazda shot post.  It stayed at the new booth, too.  Leaving it we saw a sign for a sale that I had considered going to, but thought it was too far away.  We followed the signs and found two sales.  I piled up so many cool things at one of the sales that the seller stopped totaling me up at 20 bucks and just threw the last four of five things in.  Love it when that happens!

Hulk like Elmo!

One of the things I got there was a very large stuffed Hulk figure.  A woman asked me what I was going to do with it.  Her daughter looked at her and said:  "I would throw it at people on Halloween."  Seems like a good idea to me.  Watch out on October 31!

Across the street, I bought a really odd (for me) item--a weight bench.  It's just one of those plain ones that you lay on and hope you don't end up dropping something very heavy on your throat.  It's totally not me, but it is something I can place other things on it for a display.  It also has no moving parts, so customers won't be tempted to do stupid things in public on it.  And it was only a dollar.  Okay, so that last bit may have influenced me more than a little bit.

On way out of this neighborhood, we stumbled across a fundraiser sale for a Doberman rescue group.  I got a huge pile of enamelware dishes there (most with lids).  Happy dance!  The last sale was a vintage junkie kicking the habit.  I got some nice things there, but there were a couple more things I wanted (chalkware Madonnas!) and she wasn't budging on the prices.

Love the red one! All have lids, except the top one.

We rounded out the day trying to pick up a free sofa from a work friend, only to find out that our wondrous Mazda does indeed have a limit.  Just wasn't going to work.  I ended up putting it on Craigslist for her and hauling it to the end of her driveway.  It's gone now!

Oops!  I am out of things to say.  Photo parade from here on out!

Betty Boop Witch

Love the old hymnals!

Palm Tree Candle Holders

Crafty filled light bulbs

Awesome Oreo tin

Sweet vintage Madonna

Bar stools are quick sellers for me.

Hand-painted wooden elephant/pull toy

Finding Peanuts collectibles is always a plus!

More Peanuts stuff and a Fisher-Price repro

Linking up with:  Thriftasaurus!

Monday Rambles

Let's do this!

Last week was a bit much here, but I think this ones going to calm down a little bit.  I am still struggling to fit the newest booth into my routine.  I have no clue what my regular work day is going to be, but I desperately need to establish one.  Two training days last week knocked out any hope of having a work day.  I don't have that challenge this week, so at least I'll have a work day.  I'm just not certain that it will become my regular day or not.

My sales suffered a lot last week.  I've got the rent made at both spots, but I'm not having the high sales days and rapid growth I've become used to over the summer.  I know that until I get a regular day to stock and prep at both sites, that growth is not likely to come easily.

Seems pretty cut and dry, right?  Get to work and everything is going to be okay, dummy!  If only life were that simple--or at least if only my life were that simple.  Alas!  There are complicating factors.

To wit:

COMPLICATING FACTOR NUMBER ONE:  I'm having a hard time trying to find a balance between the two stores.  I have enough space in my original store that I cannot neglect it when it comes to stocking or working it.  If I weren't so worried about that store lagging, I would have just hauled my van load from Saturday over to the new store, priced it, put it out and been fully stocked and done with it.  Under other circumstances, that's the approach I'd take.  However, there's more to this story, which brings us to:

COMPLICATING FACTOR NUMBER TWO:  Sales are falling off at my original store, by as much as two-thirds on some days.  Last week wasn't pretty.  The owners of the building where my mall is have started doing construction in front of the building.  The parking lot is torn up.  The front of the building beside our area has been completely gutted.  There's a fence up that stops just short of our front door.  Worse, our huge front window has been completely boarded up!  From the road, it looks like we've closed up shop.  We can make all the announcements we want in any forum we want, but the perception created by the front of the building is having an impact.  Add to that the rumors that several competitors are taking delight in spreading and I am really nervous about taking attention away from there right now.  I made rent fairly quickly this month, but at the rate things have slowed down right now, I don't have much hope for a strong month.  Fall is supposed to be a busy time for us!

COMPLICATING FACTOR NUMBER THREE:  I could probably weather both of those storms, if it weren't for this last one.  Eventually, I would bite the bullet and do what I had to do for store number two.  Maybe, I'd even overstock it a tad, so I could then focus on the first store with some extra energy.  Thing is, my track record is not so good when it comes to second stores.  I've simply never done well anywhere outside of my original store.  My first two forays into other venues turned into disasters, for various reasons.  I thought that since I was moving into another Peddlers Mall, I would not have that same issue.  Instead, I am having to deal with the voice of history and it's whispering some not very flattering things to me right now.

I know I have a tendency to be a Gloomy Gus.  I'm probably over-reacting somewhat.  I know that things ebb and flow and come and go in this business.  I'm being a tad knee-jerky in my reaction right now, but I cannot help feeling more than a little discouraged.  There's a part of me that wants to say that I've had too good of a summer for this to be my fall.  That would also be my overly dramatic whiny voice.  I know that reactionary side of my psyche has been provoked, so I'm trying to quiet that down.  At the same time, the amount of work one puts into this business kind of makes one prone to these kind of reactions.

Of course, I'm also doing stupid things that aren't helping the situation.  I had pulled a tub of stuff to take to the new booth on Saturday.  I left in my storage at the first store, intending to get it when I dropped off the day's haul.  When I got there, I started talking to some other vendors and guess what I forgot to get?  Goofy Eddie, that's me.  On the other hand, I got some new and rocking furniture from Saturday over there. I also put most of the smalls from last Sunday over there as well.  It is filling up nicely over there, I just don't have enough stuff yet.  It's hard to figure out what "enough" is when you're making up a load to take.  I guess I'll get there.

I guess I should apologize for not putting a "Whiny Eddie Warning" at the front of this post.  Sorry about that.

Let's talk about happier things.

The weather has turned deliciously cool and I am digging it with a spoon!  We are nigh upon my favorite time of the year!  Halloween is coming!  So is my birthday!  (Hint! Hint!)  Leaves will be turning!  Thanksgiving is also on the way.  I have always loved, loved, loved autumn.  This time of the year makes me happy.  There are still a couple of awesome annual yard sales yet to come as well.  I think one of them is this coming Saturday.

I'm writing this on Sunday evening, while Keith is outside doing the yardwork.  He just walked in with a curb find for me!  Yay!  It's be junk set out time again in about a month.

Damn cluttered junk room!

 We did have a good day of hunting yesterday.  I'll have more to say about that tomorrow or Wednesday.  I need to get some pics first.

We got a call from the vet the other day.  It's tine for Old Man Kosh to have a check up.  He's thrilled about that.  (Not really.)  I have my own annual check up on Friday.  My doctor's office happens to be just down the street from my favorite thrift and just a hop, skip and jump across the river from the new store, so I guess my agenda for that day is set.

Thanks for indulging me this time around.  I promise much cheerier content to come.  I'm planning on spending my booth work time this week making a super-load for the new store, while still putting plenty of love on the original booth.  It's time to multitask!

In closing, here's an artsy [ic of me pretending that I'm a Cyclops!

What's....um....around Mazda?

Good day yesterday for sure.  It peaked early at a sale in our own neighborhood and went downhill from there, but there were plenty of finds.

Two stores means I have to go back to thinking about what needs to go where.  Since I did not have a chance to get to the second store this week due to the two days of training I had to do, I ended up pulling everything out of the van in the Peddlers Mall parking lot to sort what went where.

Then I realized:  "Doh!  Mazda shot!"  Sorry about that.  Here's the big stuff sitting around Mazda in the parking lot.  The smalls are boxed up at this point.  I'll have them out later in the week, so pics then with the stories.

It's been a rough week.  Sales have been slow, especially at the new spot.  I am getting discouraged.  More later.

Retro Y'all--Muppet Edition!

My favorite time of year?

Here's a hint!

And it's all for sale!

Halloweening!

Well, phase one of the Halloween merch is out!

I've held back some of the smaller items to feed into the booth as other stuff sells.  By the end of the month, it will all be out.

I decided to leave those Christmas dishes out in the middle of everything, just to be a little subversive.  I'll start working more Christmas in the booth around mid-October, so the transition from Halloween to Christmas will go a little more smoothly.

I do all my Halloween shopping during the clearance sales the previous year, so I get a good selection of good stuff at a good price.  I supplement this with some yard sale purchases, but I'm really selective about those.  I love doing the post-Halloween shopping.  Halloween stuff is so much fun!

In the end, I usually get a good sell through.  We'll see what happens this year.

Muppet Monsters:  So cute and so wrong all at once!

It's a matter of scale!

I like tiny versions of things that are large and large versions of things that are tiny, especially when they still function like the regular-size version of those things.

From one extreme....

Dig that original price!

  ...To the other....

Don't they kind of look like little aliens?

...IT'S ALL FUN!!!

But wait, there's one more:

 

Oh dear!  It really is a collection now!

Monday Rambles

Where the craziness never ends!

Ever.

Seriously.

Last week was a whirlwind of activity and this one seems sure to be more of the same.  I have to go to Lexington for training on Thursday and Friday.  It's sure to be a good training and I love Lexington.  Thing is, I want to go thrifting and junking in Lexington, not sit in a class all day!  It's so hard to do the things you gotts do all the time when you can practically here the junk crying out for you!  Am I right?

The good part is that I will get out of a day of work.  The bad part is that my pay rate for training is half of my regular rate, so I'll barely make up for missing that day of work with the two days of training!  Sigh.

I spent a couple of days last week trying to get the new booths up and running.  It's proving to be quite a challenge.  Nothing is photo-worthy yet.  There's not enough stuff in the spaces for a pic.  I've started selling at a good pace though. 

I only have two spaces in the new store, as opposed to the eight I have at the other one.  I'm actually finding it kind of hard to work in a smaller space now.  I am so used to my big ole four-plex.  It's easy to forget that I started small, back in the day.  To make it even more challenging, my two spaces are across the aisle from each other, so I don't even have a duplex.  The smaller space will be easier to stock and keep clean, but I find I'm constantly over-compensating for the size by not bringing enough stuff.

It's still going to be a while before I get it to that just right stage, especially at the rate things are selling.  I am a little worried about keeping up the pace.  Since it is across the river, I cannot get over there as often as I do the other store.  However, blank spots and disorder show up more easier in smaller spaces than they do in my big ole booth.  I'm still trying to figure out the balance.  It might take me through the holidays to get it right.

Speaking of the holidays, I put the Halloween stuff in the new spaces and will be putting it out in the old booths this afternoon.  It's already selling well across the river.  Even my harvest stuff is selling better than it usually does.  This time of year it really pays to think like a regular retailer and do what they do.  All of your customers are seeing this stuff go up in Wal-Mart or wherever, so they are tuned into that cycle whether or not they realize it.  Vendors that can play along with that will benefit.  I'll have some Christmas out by the end of the month.

This was the most interesting yard sale week I've ever had.  We went to a church sale that did not exist, a community sale that was a bust, and by 11 had only bought a bird cage.  We were heading to large neighborhood sale, when we saw a pile of furniture in front of a house with a "FREE" sign on it.  That filled the van, with really nice stuff, so we called it a day.

Sorry no pics of that haul.  It was a busy road and there was no place to pull off safely, so we were too busy trying not to get killed as we loaded the van.

I did go over to a store I used to be in for a carport sale on Sunday.  Everything was a dollar, so I cleaned up on that.  Got some nice larger smalls for the new space.  Here is Chiquito inspecting that haul:

Beware the photo-bombing kitty!

I sort of had an interesting proposal tossed my way while I was shopping there.  The timing right now is really bad for me, so I said I would think about it.

I need to give a "thanks" to one of my blogging heroes and all around good dude Mike Sterling for featuring my wonky Magneto on his blog the other day.  If there is ever anything you need to know about comics, Mike is the guy to ask.  He's hilarious too!

I got to know Mike several years ago, when a group of bloggers would exchange music CD's through the mail.  Another one of my blogging heroes, Roger Green, reminisced about those days recently.  It's kind of like "old home week" on the blog today!

Well, I've got laundry to finish and dishes to do before getting ready for work, so I better scoot. More later, if I don't totally lose my mind!

Retro Y'all!

Boothing It

It's been so long since I've done a booth update post, mainly because I felt the booths were too out of control to show.  Now that things are looking a little better, I took some pics.

I'll warn you in advance that they're just crappy cell phone pics, since that is all I seem to have time for any more.  The harsh florescent lighting there isn't doing me any favors either.  I did some cropping to help give the pics a focal point, but I don't know how much it helped.  I have no walls defining my rather large space, so it's hard to keep background objects in other booths from becoming a distraction.  Also, I pretty much have stuff crammed into every nook and cranny.  Styling and displays are so not my thing.

For the record, I have two 8x10 and two 8x11 floor spaces combined into one large fourplex that I sometimes call "Ed-Mart."  The official name of my booth is "Eddie's Attic."  I also have three wall spaces beside my fourplex and another wall space that is in front of my storage room at the mall.  I forgot to get pics of two of the wall spaces.

My vibe is kind of eclectic.  I feature everything from the kind of practical to the slightly whimsical.  My goal is to never be too stuffy and to never, ever look like my stuff came right out of my living room, even though some of it has.  I'm not exclusively vintage or exclusively anything, except maybe exclusively Eddie.  Someone once asked about my booth and I told them to think of bongo drums.  If you get that,  you'd love my space.  Plus, Scooby Doo totally rocks!

I'm more enamored with the idea of the overstuffed little junk shop run by the slightly wacky neighborhood eccentric old dude than I am the overly foofed antique store.  My booth totally reflects that.  I do leave people plenty of room to safely walk around, though.  I truly believe that if you can walk through my space and not come out with something you have to have, then you're just not trying hard enough.  

Onto the booth:

Looking in from one side.  There are four main entrances into the fourplex.  This stuff is in the center of the space.

An overview of my religion wall.  It started as a single shelf five years ago and grew to this.  For a while, it took up one of the wall spaces.  I started referring to it as "St. Attica" during that time, but I don't use that name now that I've incorporated it into the fourplex.  I moved it when I had given up the wall space temporarily.  When I took the wall back, I decided to use it for something else.

The religion section really is a destination for several shoppers.  I have a lot of regulars buying from it.

The orange things in the lower right are priest's stoles.

The comic book/graphic novel/manga section is another popular spot.  It's a struggle to keep it neat and stocked.  There are other people selling comics in the mall, but I am the only one who has ever been a reader/collector, so I think my selection is better.  I know my prices are.

Media and games shelf

The start of my seasonal displays.  Right now, it's Fall/Harvest themed, but soon it will be mainly Halloween and will take over three tables and several shelves on the inside.  I sell a LOT of Halloween.  I don't do as well with the harvest stuff, so I don't do much of it, but I do like to have some.

Two of my wall spaces.  This is my section for vintage and primitive stuff, or--as I like to call it--classics and rustics.  

My ode to alcoholism.  Beer and liquor advertising and related items sell pretty well for me.  When I have a whole lot of them, I make a section for them and let it sell down some.  I haven't had a bar section for a couple of years, so I thought it was time to pull another one together.  When it thins out, I'll scatter the remainder among the other merch in smaller groupings.

I call this shelf "Remembering Grandma's Kitchen."  Well, except for the Kiwi shoeshine box in the lower right.  Grandma never had one of those in her kitchen. 

I just bought that white inset shelf the other day and knew it would look good among the other "rustics."  I had to take down one of the shelves that was on the wall to put it in.  I had never thought of doing that before.  I bought those shelves as they were (on the wall) when I first rented that space.  Now I am pondering other arrangements for them.

I think this one shelf pretty much sums me up as a reseller in one picture.  If you get it, then you get me.

Food fun!  Various promo items and toys related to food and cooking.  Plus, a big basket full of cookie cutters!

My Asian shelf

Quiet study area

I've had this 8 foot section of pegboard wall forever.  I bought it back when I only had one booth.  It just doesn't work in my space any more, and I have been trying to get rid of it without much success.  Right now, it sits on an aisle and I use it as my "storefront."  I rotate displays in and out of it like a store window.

Enamel top table + terracotta churches = DOUBLE AWESOMENESS!!

My vintage/classic toy section.  It looks sparse here, but for some reason I took the pic before I was finished restocking it.  It's full now.  My old friend Fisher-Price is very good to me.

Back to where we started, but on the other side.  Those drawers hold school supplies and office stuff.  I did have them out more prominently during back to school time.  Eventually, they'll end up under a table.  I know a lot of folks don't like bins of things, but I do.  It's a little extra work keeping them orderly, but it's also a good way to sell smaller things.  At least, I think so.

And that's the tour!  Hope you enjoyed it!  Come back soon and bring money when you do!

 

Flea Market Finds

So what was in that granny cart?  Well, a whole lot of things.  Some were for personal use. (Old Disney comics rock!)  Some were just standard booth finds--like the stack of CD's I got for five bucks.  I'm omitting that kind of stuff in order to focus on the really interesting things.

As I was putting this post together, I realized that I kind of forgot to take a couple of pictures in my rush.  If I remember, I'll get them next time I'm at the booth.  I left out one of the coolest things.  (Of course.)

Finally, I'm laying aside the tables on top of the granny cart, since you've already seen them.  All that said, let's dive right in!

I have this fascination/love for metal chalices and goblets.  It's a sideline to my religious article obsession, because they remind me of the ones used in communion.  This one is pewter and has some nice age to it.

Most of these pics were taken during the cleaning and pricing phase.  I don't have time to do any sort of staging whatsoever right now.  The guy I bought this pestle and vintage gardening tool from told me that someone else had come by his stand and said that they belonged in a museum!  Well, now they're in my booth.  I guess that's kind of close.

Retro tin canister.  The red lid really pops more than it does in this pic.

I liked the carving detail on this crucifix.  The dealer gave me a deal on it and a metal one that I was about to pass on.  Another customer saw me pick it up and got right in my face--I'm talking extreme personal space invasion here--and loudly said:  "ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?"  Awkward!

A couple of corn cob pipes!

I got a discount on this stuffed bear because the dealer thought he was cute and no one else had even looked at him through the whole flea market.  I love his pipe and glasses.

I knew what this one was thanks to a post Shara did a while ago about them.  His toes are worn, but he's still a cutie.  Reading junk blogs pays off!

Finally, these claw machine prizes make an odd pair, don't they?  Magneto from the X-Men and Elektra from Daredevil.  They both look kind of stoned to me.

Would you believe a Wednesday Rambles?

And then, Eddie went crazy and was never heard from again.

The end.

Okay, so it may not be time to come visit me at Mother Hood's Senility Complex with gifts of old comic books and brownies, but I'm feeling like it might not be too far off.  I've put the "crazy" in "crazy busy" lately.

I can happily report a few things:

First, I set another sales record in August.  I moved from a four digit gross to a four digit net!  This is the largest check I have ever gotten as a vendor!  And that was in the summer slow season!  Even the fair didn't really put a hurt on me.  Now that we're into the fall, which is traditionally a sales pick up time, I am really excited about what is to come!  My Halloween stuff will be out by next week, and I always sell Halloween like crazy.

One of the more interesting things about my sales is that my booth has looked like a hot mess for several weeks.  I've had a real hard time getting ahead of these sales and have been just throwing things in shelves and not paying much attention to anything else.  Apparently, people will step over dead bodies to get into my booth.  The messier it got, the more I sold.

After spending four solid days working, I finally have it under control again.  For the moment anyway.  It looks really good again.  It's not fully stocked.  I have a lot of egregious holes in shelves, but it's neat again.  (Now watch this kill my sales.)  I'll have some pics up here in the next couple of days.

The big stress point I've alluded to off and on since the beginning of August appears to have been resolved, somewhat favorably.  It's led to a new batch of stress, since I have taken booths in a second store as a result.  I don't feel like I can go into anything publicly, but would be glad to discuss any of this in private.

I am not leaving my first store.  I am very happy there, in fact.  I even took another wall space there over the weekend and might be picking another up at the end of the month.  Still, picking up a new store was kind of in the cards for me, even if the timing isn't great.  I hope it will go okay. 

Right now, I am kind of rushing trying to get the new spaces open.  I only have two 8x10's there, so it's a struggle dealing with much less space.  I am also having to rework my boothing schedule and have yet to come up with a satisfactory way to accommodate my job, home, and two stores.  The fact that the new one is across the river in Southern Indiana doesn't help.  I think it will all settle down in a bit, but right now it's all just chaotic.

On the other hand, the store I'm moving into is very very busy and most folks do well there.  It's managed by the woman who used to manage the store I started in and I love her to death.  There are positives to this whole thing, just a lot of uncertainty as well.

If I drop out of sight here and there, you'll know why.  Speaking of which, I'm picking up a lot of new readers these days, so I guess I might as well explain myself a bit. I am not one of those bloggers who responds to every comment.  I just don't have the time and sometimes I honestly don't know what to say.  Sometimes, it will be three or four days before I can respond and then I binge-reply.  Please don't be offended if you don't hear from me.  I have read your comment and do appreciate it.

Likewise, I tend to drop in on blogs once or twice a week and binge-read posts.  If you're wondering why you sometimes get several comments from me on posts that are several days old, now you know.  I love checking in and seeing what everyone has been up to.  Sometimes, it's just hard to work things in.  (You would not believe how far behind I am on Days of our Lives!)

Thanks for being here and thanks for reading and replying and thanks for letting me just be crazy junker Eddie!  Most of all, thanks for being you!

Tomorrow, I'll have pics of the flea market finds.  Friday, I'll have booth pics.

Happy Labor Day!

I'm on  blog break due to the holiday.  Monday Rambles will appear on Tuesday this week.  No yard sales to speak of this weekend, so instead of a Mazda shot, here's my granny cart shot from the big flea today.  More on the contents tomorrow.

Keith saw this when he came to pick me up and said, "What?  No rocking chair on top?"

In other news, Kosh started helping with the laundry.