What it take to put on summer garage sales

Garage sales typically begin with an ending.

The inspiration to open one's garage, car port or yard to bargain-seeking strangers usually comes at a time of closure, whether it be the packing away of seasonal wares at season's end, or the sunset of a period in a child's life that leaves boxes of outgrown clothes and toys. Maybe it's the passing of a fad or phase in an adult life.

These moments lead to the same question, the impetus for all rummage sales:

"Why do I have this?"

Cape Girardeau's Karen Hagan asked herself that as she packed away her Christmas decorations in January. Her daughter, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law faced the same question. Now they have united under that question to hold a four-family garage sale.

Today is Friday, and the big sale is less than 24 hours away. Months of gathering and pricing have led Hagan and family to her vacationing parents' garage at 1924 Carolina Lane.

Hagan is an old pro at this. That's why she's coordinating this sale for her family. She's been to the newspaper to place the sale ad and to the bank to pick up coins and dollar bills for change. She's got cardboard signs that can be stuck in the ground or taped to street signs and utility poles at a moment's notice, should the sale start out slow.

Hot items

At this moment, she's rifling through a pile of her granddaughter's old baby clothes and doing some last-minute arranging.

"Baby items are always a big draw for garage sales," Hagan says. Sometimes children outgrow clothes before even getting to wear them, she says. That's why yard sales usually offer cheap clothes that are almost new.

Other steady sellers at this sale are collectibles. Hagan has set out a table of Elvis paraphernalia and another of Precious Moments figurines. Phases that have run their course in the Hagan family.

The rest of the wares -- adult clothes, books, Christmas decorations and various appliances -- are a crapshoot.

"You never know what's going to sell," Hagan says.

During a previous sale, Hagan's husband, Pat, put out a cracked toilet seat for $1 as a joke. Much to his chagrin, the toilet seat and a broken set of shower doors were the first things sold, bought by a man who wanted them for his hunting cabin.

But Hagan will be happy as long as she makes enough to pay for the $20 ad that ran in this week's paper and that whatever sells is gone.

At night's end, when all is set up and ready, Hagan will close the garage door and head home. When it's time to start at 7 a.m. tomorrow, she'll need only flip the door switch to open shop.

Yard sale or garage sale?

Candi Wooten doesn't have that luxury.

Her Cape Girardeau home at 3938 Granite Drive has a garage, but it is full with her husband's truck and shelves of items that aren't quite ready for sale. So her Saturday sale will be in the driveway.

The Wootens' sale will be a single-family yard sale of just baby clothes, a baby bed and toys. Like the Hagans, they've placed their newspaper ad and picked up change. They've also had to go out and reserve some fold-out tables from Rental Land. Wooten's husband, Grady, is out in his truck picking those up now.

The Wootens aren't as seasoned as Hagans when it comes to garage sales, but they're no rookies, either. They've had a couple of sales before relocating within Cape Girardeau. With a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, they've developed the savvy that makes organizing sales easier. They now have ongoing piles for outgrown clothes and toys -- a junk pile, a Goodwill pile and a garage sale pile. The latter is reserved for the lesser-used items. When it is tall enough, as it is now, it's time for a sale.

Right now, Candi Wooten is pricing her wares with small green stickers. Her biggest problem right now is keeping her children out of the piles.

"My shoes," says Gage, 2, holding up one of his old sandals.

"They're too little for you," Candi explains.

"I want those."

"But, honey, they're too little."

When Grady returns with the tables, the Wootens will move the stuff upstairs to the living room, where it will await morning. At that time, before the sale starts at 7 a.m., the Wootens will set up the tables in the drive and lay out the merchandise.

The big day

But as the Wootens and Hagans both know, that's never the way it works. On sale day, the hard-core garage-salers have little regard for the typical 7 a.m. start times, especially for sales held outside.

Sure enough, when the Wootens step out the door at 6:30 a.m., people are waiting. The baby bed and several ride toys are gone before they're even set out.

That's why Hagan decided to have this sale in her parents' vacant garage. Previously, she'd hold the sale in the car port of her home a couple blocks away. She said sometimes early customers would help them bring the tables out and set things up, buying things as they were unpacked.

But even in the safety of the garage, three early shoppers stand outside waiting for 7 a.m. Not wanting to run them off, Hagan decides to open at 6:30 a.m. No sooner than the garage door opens, two of the people help bring out a picnic table of appliances into the drive. One man has bought up the table of Elvis merchandise and left by 6:40 a.m. By 7 a.m., more than 30 people have been in and out of the garage. Hagan can see right away she won't need to put up those signs.

Closing numbers

All in all, it was a good day for the Hagans and the Wootens.

Before a waning crowd and the heat forced Candi, Grady and 6-year old Bailey Wooten inside at 10:30 a.m., 50 to 60 people visited their sale. Grady said Candi deemed the sale a success, not because of the $250 netted, but because she got rid of almost everything she wanted to. The remaining goods went back into the garage sale pile for next time.

The larger Hagan sale was also successful, just as Karen Hagan foresaw. Together, the four families pulled in more than 250 people and brought in over $600.

But after they shut down at 1 p.m., Hagan saw that they still had quite a lot in stock. Her solution was to have her parents park outside when they got home. That way, they could just keep the shelves in the garage stocked until it was time for the next sale.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335,6611, extension 137