June 26, 2002
Giant garage sale offers door-to-door bargain hunting
Central neighborhood residents clean out closets for annual event
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The immutable law of garage sales is that one person's junk is someone else's treasure.
This Saturday, some residents of Central neighborhood opened their garages to the public for the neighborhood's annual garage sale extravaganza. As money changed hands for anything and everything - from clothes, games and books to bikes, dishes and furniture - shoppers and sellers alike were happy.
"We are motivated to clean out closets and get rid of things," said Jill Robinson, who participates in the Central neighborhood sale every other year with her sister Janet Krupp.
As veteran garage salers from both sides of the cash box, Robinson and Krupp work hard on presenting and pricing their merchandise. They want to make sure they mark items reasonably beforehand and make sure straighten the clothes during the day. Robinson even took time on her vacation to get ready for this year's sale.
"I pick what I would pay for it as the price, and I'm kind of cheap," said Robinson, who also held the sale the previous weekend. "It's 50 cents on all clothes and I had seven boxes of books and I'm down three - for ten cents a book it's a bargain."
Some shoppers are philosophical about the bargains they pick up, knowing they are just adding to already bursting closets and garages.
"We live across the alley so we trade junk between houses," said Deb Newhouse as she shopped a neighbor's sale before walking on to some other ones. "It is fun, though, because you always find such good treasures because what one person doesn't want you do."
Being willing to bargain is key to garage sale hostess Joan Julin.
Calling garage sales an excellent way to clean house, Julin holds one every year during the neighborhood's effort. She is more than willing to negotiate with customers and if she sees someone looking at an item but putting it back, she offers to take less. Julin's philosophy is that any money received is gravy since it is for stuff she no longer wants.
"You just don't want to take things back into the house," she said. "If people want something, I say, 'Take it away.' Or sometimes they'll come back for something they saw in the morning that was too expensive then."
Like Julin, Robinson agrees that despite all the work, the biggest benefit of holding a garage sale is the money you received to have emptier closets, garage and storage spaces.
"If you price it right, it is almost like someone's paying you to haul it away for you," she said.
Members of the Emmanuel United Methodist Church, located in the center of Central neighborhood, have thrown themselves into the spirit of the annual neighborhood garage sale. They started with a bake sale a few years ago, offering treats, lemonade and coffee as a respite for weary bargain hunters traveling the neighborhood alleys. Last year they held a parking lot sale and drew large crowds.
Inspired by that success, this year church youth distributed flyers around the neighborhood offering to take unwanted junk for the sale.
Although the threat of rain Saturday morning moved their sale indoors, they had a steady stream of buyers looking over dozens of tables overflowing with items. Last year's sale raised $1,100 that the church used for mission outreach; this year, they hope to exceed that number.
"We had such a good response from the sale last year we decided to do it again," John Linnerson, a member of the church. "Some of this is from our members but we pretty much cleaned them out last year so most of this is from the neighborhood."