Turning Dust Into Dollars

The economy has led to a lot of discussion about which types of retailing are most viable right now. Not a lot of surprises there: Walmart, viable; Neiman Marcus, not so much. Costco, viable; Whole Foods, not selling as many $6-a-pound heirloom tomatoes.

Judging from the number of digital greetings I’ve had emailed to me this holiday season, I’d say anybody selling Christmas cards has seen a drop-off in business. Perhaps anybody selling postage stamps, as well.

But do you know what retail business is absolutely booming? Consignment! I know, I’m amazed, too. Apparently, consignment – where people bring in their castoff clothing, furniture, jewelry, artwork, collectibles, practically anything, to a re-seller who pays them a percentage only if the product sells – has been thriving for some time. I’m told consignors (the ones who bring their merchandise in for resale) began by cleaning out their attics, garages and parents’ or grandparents’ homes. When they saw how they could turn dust into dollars, they stepped into a higher gear. I’m told women now haunt the Goodwill shops and yard sales, buy other people’s cast-offs at, say, five cents on the dollar, then bring them to the consignees for four, five, six, ten times that amount.

But these days, in this economy. . . on the one side, people in need of cash see liquid value in their garages and attics; on the other side, people in need of gifts see great bargains to be had.

And those people who shop at the consignment stores are no longer embarrassed about where their new sofa came from. They like the character of something that might be decades old. Some like the challenge of fixing up or restoring. And they’re all proud of this great deal they got. “You got it where? For how much??” Word-of-mouth is a powerful communications tool.

In the middle of the transaction are the stores themselves. And they’ve evolved from the crowded bazaars that used to feel as if you were poking through someone’s cellar. The ones I’ve seen are open, well-lit and well-organized. Shop owners are employing all the familiar retail tools and stratagems: sightlines, signage, directional lighting, aisle patterns, merchandise arrangements and adjacencies. In fact, one consignee told me that she has to rearrange her store every day, because new merchandise comes in – and so much goes out, too, on a regular basis.

Too much merchandise going out too often. Which retailer today wouldn’t covet that problem?