Antique Store Wisdom: What I've Learned 11 Months In...

It's getting close to one year since I started selling antiques in a small space I rent at the Southern Crossing Antique Mall. The rent is low, there's a dedicated customer base, and foot traffic is high. It's been a wonderful place to sell vintage and experiment with what customers will respond to when I have a shop of my own one day soon.

Here are the top things I've learned this year selling at the Southern Crossing Antique Mall:

1. You have to add more merchandise FOREVER and FOR-ALWAYS.

Your hunt never ends. You always have to be on the prowl for fresh new merch to sell. Add weekly thrift hunts to your schedule and make time to add it to your booth as soon as possible.

2. Keep your space fresh, rearrange stock frequently.

Creatively rearranging you booth at least a couple of times a week is important. Look to magazines and retail stores your admire for inspiration. (I have a post on this:)

3. Experiment: You don't what will sell until you try it.

Add items that aren't vintage. Handmade soaps and crafts can sell very well at antique stores. Additionally, add vintage items you thought wouldn't sell, it just might.

4. Small ticket merchandise is your bread and butter.

Earrings, small knickknacks, and other small ticket merchandise add up big time. I always strive to create fresh small ticket merch to keep sales going and keep the booth interesting.

5. Customers and sales can be unpredictable.

I have to admit, I've been too busy to rearrange and add new stock to my booth as much as I would like. But even when you keep on top of things, customers are unpredictable. Brace yourself, there will be highs and lows!



Before I left for vacation I filled my booth with plenty of small ticket merchandise, fresh new items, and additional lighting to brighten up the area. I can't wait to come back and continue to rebrand and restage the space. I'll update with a sales report and let you know if all this extra work really helped in the end!

How are Your Reselling Efforts Going?

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