Featured 30,000 + Boomers Downsizing Each Day?

Saw an article in antiques/collectables trade journal that stated that over 30,000 baby boomers are downsizing each day currently in the U.S. and that this has added a lot of downward pricing pressure on many common collectables.

Do you think that this statement is true? And where does the market go from here as an unprecedented amount of stuff is dumped onto the market?

Your opinions?

Thanks,
Joe2007

 

Not sure about the number, but it is true my generation is downsizing and most of their kids don't want what Mom and Dad had.

It's the Grandkids that are interested. People forget to ask the Grandkids if they want anything before getting rid of things.

This past year I have seen more 20 year olds wandering through my shop. So there is hope they might get interested. It just won't be tomorrow.

 

The grandkids are often intrigued by the "old stuff" and get into what's now called upcycling. Back in the day it was just standard procedure. I have no idea what they'll collect when they get around to collecting.

 

I read this article and actually printed out a copy, a few months back - I even made my kids read it. Nothing new & different to most of us, of course, but I loved the title:

Boomer parents: 'One day, this will all be yours.' Grown children: 'Noooo!'

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2017/0725/Boomer-parents-One-day-this-will-all-be-yours.-Grown-children-Noooo

 

Not sure of the numbers, but I agree.
I hear it all the time from those having garage sales or moving sales, the kids do not want the stuff so they have to let it go.

 

Definitely think it's true. While helping dispose of an farm estate some years ago, a dealer told me there were warehouses full of "country" and "farmhouse" stuff as well as higher end that was going nowhere from the boomers parents & grandparents & altho blessed with many museums in the area, none wanted anything, unless it was an upgrade to what they already had.
Now, in the urban areas, the young (under 40 haha) don't have room in their shoebox condos nor can the "house poor" that have mortgaged at bubble levels afford things.
I see the highway trailer loads of stuff being donated various places and the loads that leave, not unsold but never put into stock in the first place.
I think a lot of nice things are going to be landfill.

 

Well, we don't have kids, and only a few of the 18 nieces or nephews (mostly nieces) are showing ANY interest..............so, much HAS to go...........

 

Yep, agree with all above, there is an OCEAN of brown furniture in the middle market & more coming every day. As a collector, it has helped me as i have been able to acquire pieces i could only dream of 25 years ago. For dealers? no go, every one i know has a sad story to tell.

 

An interesting read.

 

The unfortunate side effects of this are for years to come lots of mishandled antiques, bad makeovers, improper storage for up to decades, understanding of antiques getting weaker, etc. etc. all which leads to the loss of items that can never be recovered. You'd be surprised how often people are ready to throw something in the garbage only because they don't like it.

Now that there's downsizing, there's a sense of "This furniture is everywhere, there's too much of it", which can lead to the throwing away part. Once it's fashionable again, it'll be evident just how much of it was lost.

I watched a video on youtube showing someone painting a 19th century red flame mahogany-veneered empire chest of drawers with white chalk paint, after which they scratched the surface here and there to make it look old. The outcome was not even pretty but at least it's a step up from the dumpster.

One day, sooner or hopefully later even the Victorian furniture most people undervalue now, will be rare.

 

The number certainly sounds high, but they didn't call it the "Baby Boom" Generation for nothing!

 

Yeah, it is high, perhaps to high, according to Pew Research Center

"Roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65 today, and about 10,000 more will cross that threshold every day for the next 19 years."

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2010/12/29/baby-boomers-retire/

 

Baby Boomers!!! HaHa!!!! I think that’s what ‘they’ called US once!!!!!!! AH WELL.......ain’t no goin’ back over THAT threshold!!!!!

But, those are still scary numbers!!!!!!!

 

Agrees, no matter what number is correct, those are all big numbers, no doubt.
Another thing, that Pew thingy was published in 2010 so 19 years would be 2029, I predict an upswing in antique prices around 2029! Hang on dealers, better days are comin!!!

 

My poor grandparents

I was over there a few months ago and they were talking about their Royal Dalton collection and how afraid they are when their maid dusts around them.

I picked one up and it still had the original price tag of $250
My grandfather made the comment, they were expensive, but I bought them as gifts for your grandmother for birthdays or anniversaries, there's no telling what they are worth now!

I just smiled and nodded, I didnt have the heart to tell him only $15-$30, maybe

My grandma seemed to get that people don't want the delicate breakables.
They chip and instantly become worthless..

Today's younger generation are rough tough and on the go go go.
They want things that can withstand a bang and you'd never be able to tell it was dropped.
They want that organic back to the basics feel.


A few of us resellers were talking about today's buyers and the market.
We have a "show" 1x a month in Atl called Scotts.
It used to be THE PLACE to buy your antiques.
The past year or two dealers are reporting the market is slow and no is buying.

People don't want to shop in boring "cold" warehouses.
The buyers have headed to festivals, auctions, estste sales..
They want that organic feel; to be entertained, wined and dined..
They want a instant memory and emotional connection with the piece they just bought.

Brown furniture will sell, a good bit of it will anyways. Not for $1000s it used to bring, but not for pennies either.
You just have to dress it up and make it entertain the buyer.

 

Young people today don't want dishes or glassware that can't go in the dishwasher and microwave. They want Ikea furniture, personally I don't get the attraction, but that's just me

It is true that this past year I have seen young shoppers at shows buying what their grandparents had.

Some comments I wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard them this past year:
- This looks like my grandmother's jewelry box!
- Do people wear pins anymore?
- These glasses look like Game of Thrones! (Comment on 1930s goblets with gold encrusted etch border.)
- I have one just like that from my mother! (Can be jewelry, glass or pottery.)

Anyone hear other comments to add to the list

 

This is a bit unrelated but it jogged my memory.
At estate sales, when I pick something up and ask the price (around here mostly all those running the sales don't price items with tags) and they either tell you...

That is vintage... they are thinking big bucks.
That is brand new .. they are thinking big bucks.
The brand new I am referring to is pillowcases, sheets NOS still in the plastic which I like to buy when I find them for resale. Very easy to ship, no breakage and no packing peanuts.
Can't win these days with some estate sale runners.

 

I tell my customers, we are no longer Antique Stores, we are Memory Stores.

People are not collecting like we did back in the 1970s and 80s. They are buying what brings them good memories of a happy time, a family member or a childhood item.

 

I agree Cluttered.
At a sale over the past weekend, I was chatting with a lady as we waited to get in and she was so excited to hopefully buy some doll items that were shown in the pictures for the sale. She doesn't sell, she just wants to buy back some of her childhood items her mother tossed.

 

That's how I ended up buying a well used silver plated 'spoon' (shaped more like a sugar shell) with Ollie, from Kukla, Fran & ___

When I began to look around at all my accumulated stuff, my first thought was, Oh, I don't need to worry about selling any of it yet. Then realized that if I waited as far into the future as I was imagining, everyone would be selling the same stuff to a market that has no use for Ollie spoons.

What I have heard, & seen some evidence of, is that young people are now more interested in collecting experiences rather than things, and are donating more to causes than to cultural institutions. I have encountered young women who do not know what a locket is & people of all descriptions who are unsure about what a cameo is.

Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to develop an appreciation for the best of the past in the best of the future.