I'm excited.

But vintage jewelry always catches my eye at yard sales. Maybe an old cookbook. With my husband, it’s tools.

What I do not need any more of is Christmas decorations

Good luck on your new endeavor! 🙂

I just picked up a blow mold Rudolph at a yard sale, which teetered me over the edge when I saw what a score it was! But I'll be gentle and go easy on Christmas stuff. I do have a lot of old cookbooks and pamplets. And tools.

I sold most of my jewelry last year. I still have some odds and ends, but also a granddaughter who likes everything I have! lol

Thank you for the ideas

I think lighting is important. I like when things are well lit, but there are not bright lights shining in my eyes.

They have lots of fairly affordable string lights and up lights now.

Sometimes I like to “find” a box of stuff under a table or just good stuff that’s in a box, seemingly forgotten. I think some dealers know that I like to dig a little bit.

Also, if I were you, I wouldn’t sell my display pieces…too hard to replace.

Edit to add: Good Luck to you!

I like the string lights. I use a small string at Christmas when I display my Santas.

I have a lot of vintage cigar boxes and lots of odds and ends. Maybe I can 'design' some interesting diggers

I've collected since I was 8. The last few years my husband was alive, he was still buying things, and I was looking for shelving and other storage, thought it was a sign of a mature collection. heh. I like the furntiure I have, even if I'm not using it. It will be hard to part with any of it

They want $15/month per booth if you use their electric, in addition to the rental and commission. Kind of steep as far as I'm concerned. The booth we picked has nice lighting.

80% of my sales are to other dealers, tax exempt. I get up early to try and be first at sales for the great deals.
Right now it’s a great time to buy and a hard time to sell.

I have so much stuff. Up until my husband got sick, we were out almost every week, and we were really getting to be part of the secondary world. I haven't bought much since he's gone. If I feel like browsing, I go to the basement or the rental and sort some boxes. We bought out a lady's garage 3 weeks before he was diagnosed, and I still run across boxes we didn't look in. Took 3 of us 5 days to pack everything.

I think the prices at this mall are very reasonable and the only reason I haven't bought is because I have so much already. And luckily, I will be able to price low to move it, and still make out. We always tried to find bargains, so it's a low bar to break even or make out

Thanks for the ideas.

I love old Christmas decorations!
There’s some antique/collectibles stores here and what people really like is items of local interest. Like signs and packages of local things that no longer exist. There was a potato chip factory in town that closed in the 60’s and metal cans with their logo are prized items.

I joined a group on Facebook called Very Vintage Christmas (buy, sell, show off) I posted a picture of the blow mold Rudolph I just bought there. There are always new posting, but it is heating up as we get closer to the holidays.

You can find postings from Smith Vintage Market on Facebook. The owners post and so do many of the vendors. I have some local items, but I sold most of those things last year. I've come across a few more things. Broughton's Dairy is located here, and their items are very sought after.

Maybe we'll see you sometime. The county fair is over Labor Day. Weekend after Labor Day is Sternwheel Festival. A small town must see

Thank you for the ideas

If you sell jewelry a mirror.

Bags to bag up.

Manly stuff prominent. Woman attract easy. Men not so much.

Lollipops or something free with purchase or for the kids. Maybe a dog cookie too if it’s outside.

Cold bottled water for sale.

Edit: Wear a bright color and SMILE!!

Good luck.

I won't have to be there except to restock, but maybe I can leave contact information, so if someone wants a particular item, I can see if I have it.

It is inside, tG. I would rather clean out one of the sheds in the back yard, but for many reasons, dropped that idea I've done enough outside set ups over the years to appreciate a permanant inside spot

items on the hang tags is worth the effort. For example , if you know the maker, year made, interesting history or background info about the item, etc.

I know people want things that are marked or have org. tags, advertising, and locally Fenton Glass. And then, they rely on the seller to know what they have and be truthful about what it is, how old it is, and condition.

I've collected since I was 8. Had a shop in the 70s with my s-i-l, set up at flea markets, have had yard sales, and had booths in other places. I've been inactive since 2016, and some things change. That's kind of why I'm going to offer more midcentury and newer. Any advice from people who have been active in recent years is much appreciated.

Thank you. Hope your daughter loves what she does

They love price reductions.

Let me know if you have reels for electric cords that are long lasting and have hand cranks.

display anything for sale that you would be really bothered by having stolen. I learned that one too late. Also, have a locked case if you do jewelry or small things of any value. I double protected the stuff by screwing the locked case to the counter of the booth so someone couldn't walk out with the whole thing. As for what to sell, it's a mystery to me. Things that used to be valuable aren't anymore and things you would thing are ridiculous (modern collectibles) have value. Good luck. I have to say I miss it, but I probably won't do it again because I'm getting to the age when you want to clean things out not acquire more to sell.

I've had booths before. The last one, we lost several items, and as soon as the 3 months were up, moved out. Turned out some of the thefts were inside jobs and the management wouldn't interfere with the person responsible, who often helped themselves. But Karma happened. A few months after we moved out, the management's shelving gave way, and they lost thousands of dollars when their wares crashed to the floor.

On this try, I won't display small things. If I do, I will use a locked case. At this time, I'll just display big things that will be hard to steal.

I know what you mean about the shift in collecting. I rarely see the things I want to collect if I go out. But to be fair, I've been inactive since 2016 and I don't go out often. My cutoff is 1920, when much of the work went from studio to mass production. Not even seeing much Depression any more either.

Thanks for checking in. Always nice to see your posts

at that particular antique mall, but dealers reported the people running the place were ripping them off. Some dealers packed up and left, but I don't know if anything was done about it. It's a popular, large venue so it's a mystery why the owners felt they needed to help themselves to the goods.

had had a booth in the place I had mine. When we started on shop talk, they told me the story. I didn't understand why the sellers weren't at least reimbursed for the thefts. Later, I heard about the shelving collapse from another dealer friend.

Way back in the 70s, I knew people dealing in antiques would try to get a horse trade on things, but never thought they were thieves.

We moved some shelving in yesterday, and I've gotten 2 boxes of items prices and placed. I'm using a home shop built corner cupboard, a small hand-crafted corner shelf and a 1990s era corner cupboard. My daughter is lending me a tall bookcase, and a low table. I have some other shelving, but I'm waiting to see how much room there is. The space is 7 1/2 ' x 9' I have 3 walls and 3 corners, which is a blessing. Also trying to decide if I want the shelves jammed full or space between the items.

I have a door in my space which leads to a sump pump looking thing. Yesterday, I put an over-the-door hook up and put a hat on it. Today, the hook and hat were gone. I asked at the desk and the one clerk told me the fire marshal had been in. The owner tracked down the hook, and got the hat from lost and found. Lol Off to a good start. Maybe I'll get the health and safety crowd stopping by

If I weren't so tired, I'd be excited. I wanted to call any booth I made Tucked Away. But this space seemed to name itself, so we're calling it Grandma's Sitting Room. I have a 70s era mirror with the wreath of leaves and flowers around the edges and my daughter is going to make it a sign to display. One of my friends has been painting and has a large number of completed paintings and no place to display them, so I asked her if she'd like to hang 3 or 4 and she will.

There will be a soft opening of the basement on 8/27 and a grand opening in Sept. I'll be somewhat ready by 8/27, if it kills me.

Times flies.

I've sold a few things, so that's good. The grand opening is Sept. 16th. I'm working on my inventory list. On my personal spread sheet, I have 312 items listed. I figured out how to make the labels and print them. They are bare bones, but seem to work ok. Tomorrow, I'll add a few things to refresh the shelves, and make sure it is tide and clean.

The owners asked us vendors to contribute cookies, water and door prizes. I'm going to make a batch of pumpkin spice snickerdoodles, and I found a large Mexican pottery vase that might make a good door prize. At least it reflects what I sell in my booth.

I feel pretty good about starting the booth. Definitely giving me something interesting to do. Thanks for your advice and for following my progress

Here is a link to a picture of my booth on Imgur: https://imgur.com/qaOh4dW

I wanted to mention some milestones. As of 10/18, I've sold 51 items. My sales might pay the rent this month. I have 500 things listed on my inventory. Not everything is in the booth, but I have a system that works pretty good.

I'm enjoying the experience