Question

Topic: Just for Fun

Thinking About Having A Hood-wide Garage Sale

Posted by jpoyer on 8/3/2009 at 8:39 PM ET 3500 Points
Ok -- I recently had a baby, she's two months old, and now, with three kids and two "side businesses" at home, I'm just about as busy as a woman could be. I'm living the work-at-home mom life these days, and although I am drowning in domesticity, I am trying hard to expand my social horizons (there are only so many times you can say potty in one day without losing your mind). ....

So, all the mommas on our street are talking about having a garage sale and I'm actually participating... Because old habits die hard, I started brainstorming about what I could do to bring traffic to the garage sale. (I know, I know. I just couldn't help it.)

Here's the thing: We live in a town called Hahira -- it is a small town about 11 miles north of a larger town called Valdosta. Valdosta is ESPN's Title Town (earned that honor last summer), it's a good-sized town with a pretty solid audience for garage sales. We are located in southern Georgia, where people talk slow and move slower. Our small town is a lovely place to live but is not known to be the garage sale mecca of the region.

The bulk of Garage Sale Shoppers live in the Valdosta area, so when we have sales, we have to involve several families, or it's not even worth the time and effort because NO ONE shows up. Literally hours without anyone coming by (learned our lesson on that one already). So ...

I suggested that I make flyers to give to everyone in the neighborhood talking about the garage sale heyday we're going to have on Sept. 5 (in order to invite them to do their garage sale on the same day).

I thought it would be cool to also have a slogan for the neighborhood-wide garage sale, I think that will help not only make it more appealing for people in the neighborhood, but also something that we can put in the newspaper ad. I was even considering going out on a limb and putting the ad in the paper two weeks in advance and then again the usual time to generate excitement.

I think a lot of families could benefit from this if we all do it together, but I was hoping that my colleagues here could come up with some better ideas than I. I'm pretty much burning the candle at both ends, and I really don't think it will be a problem for me to whip out the flyers, but as far as REAL COOL ideas go, I'm on complete brain fry.

I think if it's a big enough deal, the towns within 10-15 miles might also bring some traffic too. Maybe this is wishful thinking. Maybe people will be staying home instead of traveling on the Labor Day weekend because of the economy. Maybe this is also wishful thinking.

So, the gist of this rambling mess is
1. Please give ideas how to a) involve more families and b) better publicize it, and
2. Think of a funny or creative slogan -- really don't have anything in mind, but I would like something that would be memorable.

Any ideas, large or small -- short or tall -- are welcome. My 8-year-old son will be putting up a lemonade stand. I'm sure that will bring them rolling in. Ooop, gotta go change a poopy diaper.

Please let me know if you have any questions or any answers ... or if anyone wants a mint. I'm sure I can find some of them somewhere in my garage.

Jennifer P.

:)
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 8/3/2009 at 9:03 PM Accepted
    Jennifer...slow down! Any chance that you're making this project a little bigger than it needs to be?

    Where your buyers exist, you'll run simple newspaper ads. You'll also put put directional signs the days before and of the event.

    As for sellers, your flyers and word of mouth will suffice.

    In this economy, garage sales are more popular than ever, for both buyers and sellers. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/3/2009 at 9:52 PM Accepted
    To start with, post it at: https://valdosta.craigslist.org/gms/

    If you're feeling like going the extra distance, create a Google map of all the locations of the participating homes (see: https://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68480) and create a simple website (or a basic free blog page) to hold the information so you can point people to it.

    Make it worth people's time to come. Make a list of the "big ticket/unusual items" that will be offered, so people can know if kids toys are available (and what ages) or kitchen stuff, etc.
  • Posted by heidibisbee on 8/3/2009 at 10:37 PM Accepted
    First of all I got a kick out of your email, probably because I can relate being a Mother of a 4 month old myself. Well, at least you still have your sense of humor!

    You also want to keep in mind that if you spend too much time and more importantly money, then you are defeating the purpose. Now, if you are doing this to hold on to some sanity, and not for the financial gain, then have at it!

    I agree, an ad in the local paper would be a good idea. You may also want to contact their staff and have them come out to take a picture and do a picture of the lemonade stand. Set it up in advance, and have your son donate his earnings to charity, or you can match the earnings and give that to charity so as not to take away form his earnings. The papers eat that kind of stuff up, so they will come. You may even get on the local evening news!

    As for the slogan, you may want to hoop that up and keep it personal - not to "Showy" or the charity idea will not come off genuine.

    Well, gotta go so I can sleep for 2 hours, then get up, then sleep for another 2.....they're so worth it though!

    Heidi Bisbee
    Bizzybee Marketing, LLC
  • Posted by jpoyer on 8/3/2009 at 11:33 PM Author
    Any chance that you're making this project a little bigger than it needs to be?

    Without a doubt! LOL! I almost forgot about the simple things, like the directional signs. Jotting down on my to-do list now ...

    Jay -- excellent, excellent. I'm digging the map thing and the list of big ticket items. I do believe we can knock that out. I'll also be putting my email addy on the flyer so people can send me the list of their big ticket items so I can include them on craig's list and the ads.

    Heidi - ahh, yes, our two hour naps. Aren't they lovely? Like you said, though, 100% worth it. (Though I wouldn't turn down the epidural again. I'm sure the nurse I kicked would agree that is a good idea.)

    I love your ideas -- funny thing, my son was reading the bag of pita chips we got from Sam's the other day (those nice old ladies that give out the samples are kind of hard to resist sometimes ... but these chips are actually pretty good), and he was reading the bag. He was studying it intently for a while and then he asked me what "charity" was. I explained, and as it turns out there is something about lemonade stand organization on the back of that bag and it is a charity that this company who makes the chips donates to, and that is what he wanted to do with his lemonade stand this time. (It's almost like you have mommy ESP :P )

    Thanks guys for the ideas so far - I'll be sending the link of this page to my momma buddies so they can read it too.

    -Jennifer P.

    :)
  • Posted by telemoxie on 8/4/2009 at 7:57 AM Accepted
    are you taking this too seriously? Absolutely, definitely, positively.

    But assuming for the moment that we are taking this seriously...

    ... why would you hold the yard sale in your small town? Isn't the most important thing about retail location, location, location? As long as we are taking this too seriously, why don't we rent a truck, expand our neighborhood Yard sale to a citywide Yard sale, read a tent, and move the whole event to a big spending city down the road?
  • Posted by NovaHammer on 8/4/2009 at 9:48 AM Accepted
    Include adjacent communities to join...then it becomes a
    100 Mile YardSale!! Sure to draw from very far away!!

    United Mother(s) of All YardSales!


    Sequential Signs like Burma Shave are hypnotic! (Cheap Too!)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave




    GoodLuck!






  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 8/4/2009 at 12:50 PM Accepted
    Dear Jpoyer,

    What about asking ESPN for help? I've no idea what an ESPN title town honour means, but why not ask them to mention your event in half time announcements?

    Give your event a sports theme if you have to. You could make a scoring game out of the number of people that visit each sale site.

    A shopper buys something from one of the sites, gets a rubber stamp to prove they "scored" at that particular goal, and the winner (shopper with the most goals or that's spent the most), wins a prize.

    Prizes to be donated by local merchants: good advertising for them, income for you (ads in a program of some kind), raises the profile of your town, the endorsement of ESPN, you sell stuff, everyone has a good time, you get rid of garage clutter, you make some money, and get on national TV.

    Include the local media, drum up even more publicity, and the next thing you know, you're grinning from ear to ear on the Today show.

    I hope this helps. Good luck.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA
  • Posted by jpoyer on 8/4/2009 at 1:48 PM Author
    LOL! Dave!!!
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 8/4/2009 at 11:27 PM Accepted
    Dave is funny.

    I like the direction kevin provided "United Mother(s) of All YardSales!'

    If it were me, I would think of it as a branded reoccurring event that will have more than one annual event. "The First Annual XXXX Labor Day Yardsale"

    Create a blog, with all the united mothers contributing their thoughts. Then have a first Annual Thanksgiving, First Annual Christmas ... you get the idea. Make it an institution and people will put it on their calendars to drive to you.

    or not :)

    Steve
  • Posted by jpoyer on 8/5/2009 at 8:12 AM Author
    Steve, I'm totally digging that idea of the annual thing ... would be nice to have a venue to just put out stuff every year and know that we'll have some kind of traffic.

    Gary, thanks for the reply -- There are some people in the neighborhood who are very sports oriented -- they hang Georgia State flags outside of their houses and some have the red G mailboxes. VSU is the local college, and although they regularly have national champions in several sports, most of the red and black we see is from the regional DI schools. The local high school programs here are standouts too -- esp. football programs. I don't think big enough for ESPN though, I think the charity thing is where I'm going to stick.

    We'll be giving the lemonade stand proceeds to Ronald McDonald House Charities -- when I had my daughter, she was one month premature and we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Macon GA while she was in the NICU. What a blessing that was -- all room and board taken care of so we could focus on our little one getting better. Whatever my son raises, we'll probably match.

    Kevin, (sorry I missed your reply earlier!) I do believe the sequential signs idea is a great one -- I can think of a great spot to put them too! Any suggestions on physical make-up? Those metal wire things you stick in the ground ... where do I get them? Garden store maybe? Or are there places that make signs like this that we can buy? Guess I should look around online. For once, I'm not doing this at the last minute, so I might have time to order. Kind of fun. Might be able to use them every year too!

    Thanks for the replies everyone!! I'm going to leave this open for a couple more days....

    -Jenn Again

    :)
  • Posted by jpoyer on 8/7/2009 at 11:10 PM Author
    Thanks again for your help ... Off to make a flyer for neighbors to invite them to participate!! :D

    -Jennifer P.

    :)
  • Posted on 8/28/2009 at 6:11 PM Member
    I like that you are looking at the garage sale as more than just something to throw together. The amount of time and, more importantly, marketing you put in, you'll see the difference. And by difference, I mean $$$. My last garage sell netted me over $1,500 and I had people come from all over the city cause they saw my advertising. So here are some ideas:

    Highly recommend an ad in the most popular paper. Most sale "professionals" (and there are those kinds of people) find you that way. Craigslist, as mentioned, is an excellent free resource as well.

    Of course you should plan the sale for a Sat and Sunday (it's pretty obvious but Ive seen sales on a Wednesday!). For added sales potential, think about doing it during a three day weekend.

    Flyers and signs are the next best thing. I start putting them our two days before the sale. People do read. Kinkos is your friend!

    Are there any mom groups in your area? Let them know so they can hopefully pass along info to members.

    Good luck
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