Bargain buys: The lure of garage sale season prompts cleaning house

CEDAR RAPIDS — It's part of an underground economy that thrives out in the broad daylight.

Since May, a number of handmade signs have multiplied on roads around Cedar Rapids, pointing into area neighborhoods where sales of various items are held in homeowners' garages and driveways.

These sales are unregulated and largely untracked across the country and are believed to have begun in the mid-19th century as charity fundraisers, according to the Ultimate History Project, a nationwide historical blog.

Nowadays garage sales are independently organized by individuals seeking to do some spring cleaning while making a few extra dollars. Buyers, on the other hand, regularly comb through bins and folding tables to find items at a fraction of the cost of most secondhand shops.

Here are certain traditions of garage sales that have been gleaned from visiting various locations in the Cedar Rapids area this spring and summer, according local buyers and sellers.

Why hold a garage sale?

'I just do this to get rid of things, and it's not to make money. You never make a whole lot of money on these kinds of things,' said Nova Kolander, 63-year-old who saw a couple dozen people pass through her sale on June 15.

Kolander and about 10 neighbors on Somerbrook Lane in Marion participated a weekend-long sale in early June, starting June 15. On the first day of the sale alone, Kolander said she made about $200.

For Kandace Garner and her sister, Lisa Panek, 55, of Cedar Rapids, a three-day sale they hosted earlier this month served to clean out their elderly father's home before the house went up for sale, including the appliances. Their 86-year-old father moved into a local retirement home after their mother died the previous year.

'Everything out of their home, we're getting out,' said Garner, 64, of rural Linn County. 'We're not here to make a fortune, we're just trying to get rid of the stuff and make him a little bit of money.'

'I try to be a little less than the secondhand stores because otherwise they can go in there and buy there. But I don't give my stuff away. I feel like I do mark my stuff a decent price with the assumption that people will ask to take it for less. I'm usually open to that."

- Nicole Slattery

Palo

On the other hand, there are those who look to make a profit by hosting a sale, including 38-year-old Palo resident Nicole Slattery, who has done yearly sales for about a decade and a half.

'When I had kids growing up, it was mostly get rid of these (clothes) sizes and buy the next size,' said Slattery, who was hosting a sale at her parent-in-laws on the 3600 block of F Avenue NW the weekend of June 17.

'I have found, as my kids are growing, it's more efficient to have a sale because while you might get half or a third of what it's worth, you still get something that you could turn around and buy something,' Slattery said. 'So let's say I get all this sold ...

I could maybe go buy a piece of furniture or something. I can justify that because I've sold a bunch of stuff.'

Pat Hill, 80-year-old neighbor of Kolander's on Somerbrook Lane, said she made about $2,500 in the multiday sale she hosted the previous year.

What do people sell?

Individuals sell whatever they no longer have a use for, including clothes, kitchen items and furniture, among other things.

Slattery said she sometimes holds onto items for an entire year before selling them at a sale.

'Me, I have one each year, so I don't give a lot of stuff to Goodwill,' Slattery said. 'I usually just set stuff aside and hold onto it for the sale.'

Hill participated in the Somerbrook Lane sale to clear out her store rooms, adding she had recently closed down her Marion store she had owned for 38 years. The Antique Wicker and Wicker Hill Tea Room was a combination tea shop and retail space that prominently sold wicker furniture, which made a reappearance in Hill's garage last month and were priced between $50 and $150.

'I had a lot left over from my store,' Hill said.

In some cases, items can sell for as little as a quarter. The most expensive piece Kolander had available was a $300 baby grand piano she had owned for more than 40 years.

Prices for these items always are set by the seller, but buyers often can negotiate — or haggle — a lower rate.

'I try to be a little less than the secondhand stores because otherwise they can go in there and buy there,' Slattery said, indicating a folding table of decor priced for as little as $1. 'But I don't give my stuff away. I feel like I do mark my stuff a decent price with the assumption that people will ask to take it for less. I'm usually open to that.

'We price it knowing people are going to ask, especially on a Friday or Saturday. Not so much on a Thursday.'

Garage sale shoppers also have an idea of what an item is worth.

'I think general rule of thumb, it's about a fourth of what you would pay retail is a good way to gage it. Some people tend to want less than that,' said Janet Johnson, a Cedar Rapids resident visiting the sales on Somerbrook Lane in early June.

Why do people go to them?

For some area residents, hopping from garage sale to garage sale can be its own form of entertainment.

'I just look for something different. I never know what I'm going to find,' said Gary Hilleshiem, 60-year-old from Vinton at a June 23 sale on Timber View Drive in Cedar Rapids.

For others, there's a purpose.

Buyers such as Lois Buckley, 74, of Marion, shop for family members, such as grandchildren moving into college dorm rooms or apartments.

'I bought dorm fridges for both of (my grandchildren),' Buckley said. 'I'm a big fan of garage sales, or secondhand stores.'

The most popular item, according to frequent garage sale sellers and buyers, are children's clothes.

'You put out the kids' clothes and you just get people like crazy,' said Kolander, who was selling small, colorful outfits for less than $10.

So why do people spend their money at garage sales, and not a retail store?

For the deals, Cedar Rapids resident Janet Johnson said, who purchased a handmade quilt for $100.

'I think that there's lots of ways you can budget or spend your money,' said Johnson while visiting sales June 16. 'If you like to repurpose things, if you're handy, you can paint things, fix things and duplicate what's in the high-end magazines by shopping carefully.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com