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Saturday, 04 April 2009 |
By KATIE YANTIS
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Customers eagerly browsed a room at Easy Campground in St. Marys during the first-ever Turnaround Tots LLC. Consignment Sale Friday afternoon.
The sale contains children’s clothing, toys, books, equipment, maternity clothes and more. The sale started Friday morning and will run through Sunday.
Owners and consultants Jenni Egbert and Shelley Henschen kept busy, ringing up customers and straightening racks during the sale Friday afternoon.
Local residents had the opportunity to sign up and be a consignor for the sale, get their items tagged and even shop. The duo started the sale after researching similar sales. After all the planning was complete, the sale began and items were flying off the racks, Henschen and Egbert agreed the sale got off to a good start.
“I was hoping for the rush we had, but I was pleasantly surprised,” Egbert said.
Henschen said their expectations for the sale have been met as of Friday.
“They have definitely been surpassed, the amount of people, the quality and quantity of items we ended up receiving,” Henschen said. “It’s all been positive, even those who had to wait in line.”
Egbert said the sale started with a bang, as the customers wrapped around the room and had to wait in line for up to 45 minutes.
“This is the first time we haven’t had all three registers going, it was a great turn out,” Egbert said. “That is the one thing we have learned, next time we need more check out stations and more volunteers.”
Egbert said among all of the items, large items such as pack-and-plays, play seats, strollers and toys were gone in the first hour of the sale.
Around 5,500 items were consigned for the sale and Egbert said about half of those were gone as of Friday afternoon.
Those who don’t sell all of their items have the opportunity to put a 50 percent discount on their items from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. After the sale is done, Egbert said about half of the 36 consignors will be donating left over items to charity.
“We are partnering with Mercy Unlimited and Agape,” Egbert said.
Egbert and Henschen said the sale will also take place later this year.
“It is the weekend of Aug. 21,” Egbert said. “We will send out e-mails to those on our mailing list for more information.”
For the summer sale, Egbert said the service of “busy moms tagging” will be offered once again.
Egbert and Henschen said the group offers to tag and price items for those mothers who can’t find the time to do it themselves. This will take place three weeks before the sale.
“We still hold up the same standards for the quality of the items we take in,” Egbert said. “We won’t take things with stains, tears or broken things.”
St. Marys resident Diana Dyrness said the sale was a good idea for the community.
“I am a garage sale queen, so I think there are some things that are overpriced but there are many things that are very reasonably priced,” Dyrness said. “I think it is an awesome concept and I would like to contribute in the fall.”
St. Marys resident Mary Schelby agreed and said she enjoyed herself at the sale.
“I really like it,” Schelby said. “I got a lot of good bargains here.”
Seeing the success of the current sale, Egbert and Henschen said plans for at least two sales a year will be on the horizon.
“I would like to branch out to the north and south with additional sales,” Henschen said. “We have had such positive feedback.” |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 April 2009 )
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