This past weekend, we attended a new to us outgrown children’s sale that several people have raved about. We were excited to attend. I had my list all ready, and the kids brought along their hard earned money to spend on something special.
Walking in the door, we were stopped by a big sign announcing a $3 entrance. I was prepared for this, since I had a coupon that came in the mail for free admission. Otherwise, we would not have even bothered. Any outgrown sale that charges admission better be really good.
Immediately, I was impressed with the layout. Everything was bright, clean and well organized. The sale was sponsored by one of those companies that will come in and for a fee organize your outgrown sale. They did a good job. The inventory was plentiful and it was easy to find which sections we needed.
A long line snaked around the perimeter of the gym to get to the register. The estimated wait time was about 45 minutes to check out.
When I got to my first rack, I quickly became unimpressed. The prices, in my opinion were through the roof. A little girl’s old navy dress was priced at $12! A pair of boys pants with heavy wear at the knees was priced at $8! These are not prices I am used to paying for used clothing. There was an impressive number of new clothing with tags as well, which seemed to fetch even higher prices.
Toys and equipment were the same deal. A hockey table that was the exact same one we got for free through Freecycle was priced at $125. A Melissa and Doug toy that sells for $19.99 new online was priced at $20, a penny over the new price. Strollers were priced $40 and up. Kids clothing was $8 and up. Crazy, crazy, crazy, in my humble opinion.
What struck me the most was how many people seemed to be thrilled to be paying these prices. Perhaps they were used to paying full retail? Everyone seemed to be in a panic to grab everything in sight. I put back an overpriced pair of jeans and a lady bumped my hand in her effort to get them back off of the rack.
I did wind up buying a few things, after all, probably not enough to warrant waiting in line, but we didn’t have anything else to do before our next activity was scheduled, so we okay waiting. I found exactly four pairs of shorts for my kids priced at $4 each. Although I normally pay between $.50 and $1 for used, $4 was a rock bottom price for that sale. I also picked up a thin summer dress that my daughter just had to have at $5 and a character lunch bag at $4.50.
What do you think? Am I overreacting? Are those prices good?