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Furniture and Household Items Shops If I were starting a consignment or resale shop today, I'd start a furniture/ household accessories shop. Why? Everyone's loving their homes right now. And people are much more  attuned to changing and modifying their decor today.  Besides, there are so many resources to make a shop like this truly "stand out from the crowd": a local crafter who does wonders with silk flowers, an artist with an eye for embellishing abandoned items, a sculptor who does truly original works worthy of an art gallery.  I'd have a whole address book full of upholstery resources, picture framers, refinishers, and help my clientele have homes that go so far beyond the standard "furniture-store look." If you are ready to go whole-hog into household, or just want to dabble a bit with a decorative accents area in your clothing shop, read on.   --- Kate The Manual: Can household decor/ furniture/ hard goods shops get something out of it? Click here A FOCUS Product for the Professional Resaler FOCUS: Home Furnishings Kate's definitive articles on Home Furnishings and Furniture from various Collections, now for the first time together in one, easily downloaded Focus publication! Focus publications are specifically gathered to help you answer the pressing questions of every-day resale shopkeeping. Focus: Home Furnishings is a combination reprint containing the full text of contains the full text of the following TGtbT Products: Short-Stop #7: Household and Furniture Items and Used News #U7: Tips for Furniture and Decorative Items Shops Not one word has been omitted. In addition, FOCUS: Home Furnishings contains new material never before published, in one easy-to-read PDF file, delivered right to your e-mail box directly from Kate. If you don't already have, as a treasured part of your resale reference materials,  these articles from the Collections, Focus: Home Furnishings is an inexpensive way to explore the topic.  Buy Focus: Home Furnishings as a 14-page PDF , $8.99 at our Shop. Please note that Focus: Buying Outright is a re-packaging of previously-published material, and you may already have this information. Reread this description before you order. Help your customers decide what to buy: Create a shop- emblazoned check list for shoppers' use in and out of your place. For example, a student moving into a dorm might find a list like this one useful: A big rug Comfy linens, towels Body pillow Lamps Reading chair Ottoman Totes: laundry, shower Backpack, Thermos Bulletin board Meaningful wall art Paper filing system Alarm clock, iron, tool kit Make-up mirror Small bookcase Under-the-bed storage Consider offering a gift-with-purchase to students. Useful items could be a sewing kit, stain remover stick or spray, even a coin purse to carry laundromat quarters. REMEMBER:  * You're handing out this list so that people will think of your shop, so don't be shy about putting your name boldly on it. * If you're in or near a college town, see if you can distribute these on campus or at a nearby cafe or bookstore. * This list can also serve as your guide to what would work in your Back-to-School swing shop!  Need a little refresher on arranging knick-knacks for appeal? Who better to teach you than HGTV? To see some of our Products for the Professional Resaler click here. Why not hang frames and other wall art at an angle? That's how Great Stuff By Paul does it!   How did your gift certificates sell, last holiday season? Not as well as you think they could? Check out our Conversation on Gift Certificates. The National Home Furnishings Association has consumer tips that will give you some points to talk about with your customers and that will help you sell. A link that tells all about the labeling laws for stuffed goods. Much applies to manufacturers, not 2ndhand dealers, so read carefully and doublecheck with your state people. This site includes Canadian laws, but you have to hunt...Thanks for this link to a Sharer!   Is that new furniture making you SICK?  A good article to be aware of so you can tell your clients and the press why SecondHand is BETTER than New! Click, as well, on the little blue couch icon on that page...for bad news on new upholstered goods. The One Best Thing For a resale or consignment home furnishings shop, nothing can beat explanatory tags: those little folded-over like-a-gift-enclosure tags which have the info you need (ID number, coded date-in, etc), basic info (size, description, price, etc) and suggestions/ temptations for the shopper such as these examples: Maple roll-top desk, great for hiding clutter! Use this little enamel-top table from the 1940's in your kitchen to hold cookbooks, in the front hall to highlight your Fiesta collection, or in a kid's room for crafts (it cleans up in a snap!) Tiny marble-topped stand from an old Tidewater mansion built in the 1880's Idea: this ornate plaster frame would make a terrific decoupage tray if you're crafty, or use it to put your grandparents' photo in for instant ancestry! Tie these notes/ tags on with your signature red yarn or golden ribbon and watch your shop's classiness take an immediate upsurge! Helping your customer envision this new piece in her home will boost sales immediately. If you have assistants/ helpers who come up with good ideas, include their names on these signs/ tags: Susie thinks this tiny table would be adorable in a hallway, holding family photos. You are giving your shop a personality the public can identify with, and giving Susie credit for adding to your success as well. The Manual: Can household decor/ furniture/ hard goods shops get something out of it? Well, if this page (written, compiled, and offered to you by Kate Holmes, author of the Manual) doesn't convince you: Too Good to be Threw, The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops, has over 200 pages of information about the industry. Yes, much of it is written from the standpoint of clothing resale. But if you can, as you read, think "dresser" instead of dress, or "sofa" instead of suit, you'll have it made! Dealing with suppliers, store layout, advertising, tracking sales, setting procedures, location, and all the other points are the same, whether you sell coats or CDs, paintings or panties. See the Table of Contents   Most of all: your customers are the same. The Manual is your investment in the profitable future of your shop. The following sign was Shared on Sharing by Greer: ALL SALES ARE FINAL. PLEASE, EXAMINE YOUR PURCHASE CLOSELY! *Walk around it. Look under it.*  *Sit on it. Lie on it. Wiggle it.*  *Measure it. TWICE.*  *Open it. Close it. Smell it.*  *Bring a fabric swatch. Bring a paint swatch.* Make certain it will match your other "stuff",  or if it doesn't, that you don't care. Make sure your husband, wife, son, daughter, decorator, 3rd cousin on your mother's side, best friend, hairdresser,  dog, cat, bird, or anyone else whose opinion is important to you,  approves,   or if they don't approve,  that you don't care.  Because... While we appreciate your business  and love you all,  love means never having to say   'No, we can't give you a refund.'  ALL SALES ARE FINAL!!"   A thought from Kate: Imagine all the stuff in storage facilities.  Will their front offices allow you to place a nice holder with your trifold brochures on their counter? (You can buy upright brochure holders in most large office-supply stores, nowadays.) If so, set up a schedule to check back and replenish the supply.   Selling sets of dishes? Two things to remember: * Minimum of four. Any fewer place settings and you limit your potential market too much. (This applies as well to placemats, mugs, napkins. Four's the minimum.) * Make up a placard (can be simply an index card folded in half to make an easel) with the specifics such as: 27-piece set: 6 dinner plates, 5 salad, 6 bowls, 6 mugs, vegetable dish, salt+pepper, $42