“We want things to be sold – to not be a museum.”
In a culture that regularly throws away perfectly good stuff, buying used items is one of the best things you can do to stop the waste.
At our cheery local gem of a consignment shop – Begin Again – you can sell your old belongings for cash, or look for bargain buys and unique items for yourself.
Begin Again – which recently celebrated nine years in Oro Valley – plays an important role in the community by enabling goods that might otherwise be thrown away to find a new owner.
“I used to really enjoy going to estate sales — it was kind of a sport for me” says founder Linda Vlamakis.
“Every weekend there was a whole circuit. I noticed that people were trying to get rid of the contents of their home in 48 hours, and the price would drop by half by the end of the day.”
Watching prices drop so sharply in 48 hours gave Linda the idea that it would be nice to have a shop where these items could “stay awhile” and be a benefit to the whole community.
The shop is particularly popular with “people who are trying to liquidate their home, or people that just like switching their home décor, but don’t’ want to donate what they are tired of that still has value,” explains Linda.
“These buyers appreciate that what they are buying isn’t brand new. It’s homey from the get-go.”
At least half of the primarily senior age customers will leave with something to take home when they visit Begin Again.
Each item on display is carefully hand-picked by Linda, with help from her two essential employees, Rosemary and Sharon. Linda estimates that they choose about half of the items that they look at.
“I have learned a lot about what people want and don’t want. It’s been trial-and-error. I would look at something and say, ‘I don’t know if someone will buy this. We tried to sell something like this three different times before.’ You learn pretty quickly.”
“We clean, price, and put out 100 new things every day,” she says.
“You could come in twice a week and see all sorts of things you haven’t seen before.”
There are roughly 4000 items in the store, and they sell about 100 items each day.
Only about 5% end up being donated, and only about 5% are returned to the owner unsold.
You can read about what Begin Again will not accept here.
Any unsold items are typically rotated out after about two months.
“Thousands of people come through in those two months,” says Linda. “So if the item isn’t picked up during those two months, it’s time to rotate the item out for another piece that might be more likely to sell. “
After two months, about 5% of items are donated. Many of the consignees are amenable to donating unsold items to charity.
Linda is aware that many of her consignees have also considered donating these unneeded items to charity. She thinks this is an equally positive option for people with too much stuff (“there’s nothing wrong with donating!”).
The recently remodeled 2000-square-foot store includes a lot of smaller décor (“we can’t take big furniture and space-killers”).
Perhaps the most consistently selling item at Begin Again is jewelry, which accounts for about 1/3 of sales. “I never saw it coming” says Linda. “I had to go buy several cabinets for jewelry display!”
Not surprisingly in OV, the sterling silver and Native American jewelry are some of the fastest moving items.
Garden décor and pottery account for roughly 20% of sales.
And metal décor, such as metal flowers, are a steal at ¼ their normal retail price.
“We want things to be sold – to not be a museum,” says Linda.
She also points out that “we are not a vintage shop. That’s a whole other experience.”
Correctly pricing the items that come to Begin Again for consignment items is a specialized skill.
“We use eBay and some auction sites, though we are usually priced lower than eBay. The price might be ½ of a new item at Target. I think about what I would pay for it at a garage sale.”
“We don’t get any pushback on the 45% consignment. Most people are grateful to have a resource for selling their used home furnishings and décor.
Not everyone is actually ready to let their items go.
“Sometimes you have to explain to people that are really invested in a certain price that if they bought this piece of art $400, the rule of re-sale is about ½ of what person paid. They have to be really ready to let their items go.”
Store manager Rosemary “has been with me all this time, and I’ve been really blessed.”
Linda recently brought on Sharon, who is “the new gal who kind of does my job so that I don’t have to be there until closing.” But finding a new staff member was a challenge.
“It’s so hard to find another person to add to our team. It felt like trying to fill impossible shoes. There has to be a personality mix because we work in close quarters and we have to all get along.
“They also have to treat the customers right, have a sense of humor, and a good work ethic.”
Begin Again also has a fourth employee, Elaine, who exclusively specializes in jewelry.
“I’ve thought about retiring says Linda, who is 66-years-old. “The job is physically exhausting.
“But I have so many loyal customers, and so many decisions about what we will accept, and how we price them, I want to be there.”
Begin Again is open 4 days/week, which at least gives Linda an extra day off each week from her demanding position running the shop.
For those who are simply curious, Begin Again has many “grab and go” items such as a bracelet for $3.
“We also have lot of practical things in addition to decorative items. People will buy a dishtowel, or instant pot – things they actually need in their house. At least one person in a group of people will buy something.
You can discover a few truly unique items at Begin Again, too – like the paper mâché dinosaur head that was recently sold.
“It was fun to have something with a lot of shock value.”
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Begin Again
Home Furnishings Consignment Shop
7961 N Oracle Rd Tucson, AZ
520-219-2779
ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENT OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS
No pickup/delivery
Open Wed-Sat 10-5
Consignment 10-4
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