Piggly Wiggly

Last year, Lorraine over at clamco.blogspot.com blogged about discovering Piggly Wiggly, and how much she loved the store.  Folks around here would say that she was late to the party because we’ve always loved Piggly Wiggly, but, sadly, the store’s glory days have long since faded in these parts.

Still, it made me smile when I found this two-foot Piggly Wiggly plush at an estate sale over the weekend.  It was priced at $5, and I didn’t even bother haggling because it was just too cool, and I knew it had to be worth at least that, probably more, on Ebay, provided I can bring myself to part with it.

A quick check on Terapeak when I got home showed that smaller versions of the plush have sold for at least $19, so my super-sized piggy should bring home more bacon.

Otherwise, it was a listless, pun intended, Saturday morning that bordered on being too cold to thrift efficiently.  I’m sure I missed several good items because both my fingers and ears were numb from the frigid temperatures.

Speaking of thrifting, did anyone watch Thrift Hunters this weekend?  Jason T. Smith and Bryan Goodman from www.thrifting-with-the-boys.com have a new show on Spike TV that features them traveling, thrifting, researching and selling their finds on eBay.  I read a lot leading up to the show’s premiere that it will do for thrifting what the “storage war” type shows have done to the auction business (i.e., greatly increase the competition, leading to higher prices and/or less merchandise available for seasoned pickers).

First, let me say that it was an interesting show, but it looks awfully familiar because they follow the same TV formula as the auction shows.  They thrift, have short interview segments, thrift again, then wrap up the episode by showing how much the thrifted items have sold for. 

Secondly, at least on this first episode, they were picking up things that I have picked up in the past (i.e., mugs, t-shirts, etc.), and will pick up again.   The power of the TV camera also allowed them to convince a thrift store manager to let them dig through the store’s private warehouse, despite her saying that it was closed to the public.  Obviously, this type of celebrity will give them a big advantage over other thrifters in their area.

It’s hard to judge a show after one episode, so I will certainly stay tuned in coming weeks.

Sales were pitiful over the weekend, with just 16 items sold on Amazon, and eight items sold on Ebay.  I’ve started listening to a podcast over at ebayscavengers.blogspot.com, and they have a daily Ebay goal of $300, and seem to reach it regularly; of course, they have much more merchandise in their store than I do, and actually work Ebay full time.  My goal of $100 per day, across all venues, is more modest, but so far this year, I am only averaging $87 per day.  It’s a familiar refrain, but I need to pick up the pace.

We are just about finished with our annual inventory. It was distressing to see how much inventory was sitting, gathering dust, that I thought was actually listed.  It also was distressing to see how much inventory is listed that we can’t find.  Thanks to Ella’s hard work, though, we are on the road to reconciling everything, and getting the various stores back in shape.

Have a great week everyone.