Featured Thrift store furniture

This area seems to have a pretty limited taste re furniture styles.I thought with the 24/7 bombardment of Antique Roadshow,Ebay & HGTV,folks would be getting more eclectic about what they buy to furnish or sell (?). It's like a little vortex-Monterey & Molesworth Furniture's all over the Web,be tough to miss.
Never lived in the Midwest so I'm totally in the dark there.The West Coast's so gorged w/ Antiquers it's tough to move !

 

Ohhhhhh Brad !
u just can't help yourself when it comes nice furniture.....for pennies !

and , who could blame you !!

 

.... but I am not buying It kind of kills me to let much of this stuff go but I am not jumping back in to the business. Renting warehouse space would negate any potential profit to be had.

 

but ya wanna...........you so wanna .....
I can feel how it hurts.......to walk on bye.......

 

Brad-You well meaning Chap-You retired to the Pastures of Plenty ! Maybe we could all go visit Brad once a year (bring your own tents & RV's-no 'couch potatoes' ).We can have an annual Communal Pickin Fest & rescue all those treasures left rotting on the vine !

 

Quite fascinating. You would never ever see these kinds of antiques in our thrift stores here in Canada. Most you could expect is post 1950s junk.

 

..and in southern Cali, some of that "junk" sells for good money.

 

Painted 'Monterey' Furniture to enhance your LA,Carmel or Santa Barbara bungalow.

 

Has anyone here owned or managed a furniture consignment store that sold used contemporary and vintage? I'm curious if one can actually make a living with that business or if it's more of a hobby. And not the huge Home Consignment Center-style places you find in California and Texas, but the smaller, mom-and-pop, 1500-3000 sf ones. Any guesses on net income for a business like that?

 

Consignment no, but we do have retired antique dealers.... not that dealers ever totally retire. Consignment stores can make a few bucks, provided you're selling something people want, and said people know you're there. You'd have to be pretty selective about what you take, and know the local taste pretty well too.

 

The store I used to sell and work at had a consignment component. The owner dropped it eventually. Found that he could utilize the space better by buying and selling on his own. Consignment sometimes tied up the space too long and he did not have enough leeway on pricing to move items. He did get a lot of free stuff that people did not pick up at the end of the consignment period.

 

I remember the 70's-folks would go full zombie when old oak Rolltop Desks,Hoosiers,Barrister Bookcases,etc hit the sales floor- cash & craziness ensued.
Few looked at Arts & Crafts,Spanish Revival (California Style),MCM,H'wood Regency or predicted what next years furniture would be 'hot'.
Now,just abt anything within reason will sell w/ the right marketing & social network savvy.
Sears Roebuck Oak & Walnut will just be tougher to move-maybe the Farmhouse Chic folks (aside from The Pioneer Woman) just don't have as much dough & you can buy ceramic roosters just abt everywhere now.

 

I don't know much about furniture but I can say that many old Sears sheets and pillowcases sell for nice money. Most are the flower power kind of design.

A lot of the old stores that are no longer in biz, Gimbles, Korvettes, etc their bedding sells well too. Again most want a particular vintage pattern or the fact that the items are mostly made of or all cotton certainly makes these items sell easier than the new stuff.. that is unless it is RL. But most of vintage RL is made of cotton.

 

Pearls-Never thought to shop for bedding on Poshmark, Ebay (my imaginary fear of cooties).I do imagine some beautiful quality stuff shows up.
PS-Found a pair of Ralph Lauren Purple Label Italian Trousers at the thrift a few weeks ago-they fit me.But I doubt I could ever comfortably wear expensive pants-60 years of jeans !

 

I agree with you about the cooties, I am the same way. LOL
I only sell bedding that is new old stock, still in the plastic not used. That way I know the pattern name, maker, etc. There are some that bring quite a bit of cash when sold.

But there are many who sell vintage bedding that has been used and washed. A friend of mine does that and does quite well as long as it is popular pattern.

 

Pearls-I've never dealt in vintage clothes,shoes,hats,towels or bedding (once-a 1930's pair of coveralls/overalls). But I do see a fair amount of NOS online-where the heck do folks find this stuff ? It's not as if there cities full of boarded-up Dept Stores,etc.It's a fascinating niche in the collectors universe.
PS-That would make an interesting 'Twilight Zone'-the abandoned perfectly preserved city of the past (interesting to me anyway).

 

I get the vintage bedding at estate sales. One of the first places I hit at an estate sale is the linen closet. You would not believe the amount of linens people have in their homes they never used.

 

Pearl that's wild-I thought those 'Depression Babies' used-up everything,very cool !

 

No .... depression babies saved everything good for later. Unfortunately, later never came

 

How true Brad.