Friday night I loaded up the car with tubs of clothes and toys and headed to the sale site to get set up for the big sale today! The sale was being held at an old Burlington Coat Factory building with over 50,000 square feet of space to set up tables and racks to sell items, as well as a huge large item section. Here's what the space looked like Friday night.
You have the option of bringing your own table or renting a table, or two, or more. If you rent a table it's $25 for an 8ft. table. However, since I signed up early there was a special and it was $5 off. So I chose to rent a table for $20. If you bring a table it's $15 for the space. Rack space only is $5, but you have to provide your own racks. The prices vary per sale depending on the venue, but overall it's in that ballpark. Since this was my first sale I opted to not deal with hauling a table and since they were offering $5 off I figured $20 wasn't too bad. Some people were setting up and you'll notice some empty space. That's spots reserved for people bringing their own tables and racks.
Set up was from 6-8:30pm on Friday. My mom came to help me, and we got there at 6pm and were able to get my table set up and out of the by 7:30pm, which wasn't too bad. I took both boys and girls clothes and had them separated ahead of time so that made the set up a little easier. I also found this small shelf to display some items which ended up working out great. I had planned to keep sleepers and onesies in tubs under the table so I also had those separated into the tubs ahead of time as well. Here's my table.
Saturday morning there was also time for set up. It was from 7-8:30am, but I didn't want to have to get there that early so I was glad we got everything done Friday. I did grab a tub of toys and some Halloween costumes to take Saturday morning in case there was a little extra room. (Believe it or not, sometimes people who rent space don't show up.) Well, I was glad that I grabbed the stuff because the space next to me was empty. That person didn't show up. So although you're not allowed to take that space, it made for a little extra room to the side of my table. I ended up selling two of the three costumes I took so it was worth grabbing them.
The sale started at 9am and went until 2pm. People were lined up outside an hour before the doors opened. I've never seen so many pregnant women in my life! Good thing nobody's water broke! When the clock hit 9am everyone was rushing in and the large items are first to get snatched up. Here's the large item before the sale opened...
Everything from strollers, swings, bouncers, and pack n' plays to bikes, kid tables, cribs, outdoor play structures and more! Quite the selection if you are in need of a large item. Most in "like new" condition! Here's the large item area within five minutes of the sale opening.
People were swarming to that area. Of course since those are the first items to go you have to be fast if you're looking for something. However once you've purchased your item you can't have it held for you so you have to carry it around while you shop. I personally would've carried the item out to my car, but some people are so eager to get to the tables they just lug it all around. Crazy! My table was towards the back of the store which at first I wasn't to fond about. However it wasn't to far from the large item area so that ended up being a good thing because when people were done in that area they headed towards my area.Overall, I was pretty happy with my sale. I was hoping to make around $100. I made $134 minus the $20 for the table rental, so I ended up with $114. Of course there's no guarantee you'll even make back your rental space fee, but I made my $20 back in the first 25 minutes so that was a relief. The morning was definitely the most profitable. I'd say the rush died down about 12:30pm so the last hour and a half was a little slow, but still not too bad. While I did get rid of a lot of clothes, you've seen my stash and I've got a lot so I still have stuff to get rid of. I'm guessing I'll probably do another Mom2Mom sale sometime. Knowing what I know now, I think I'd probably take my own table or racks next time to save a little more money.
If you're a seller you have the opportunity to pre-shop the sale before it opens which is nice. I ended up finding a cute denim Gap dress for Em for $2. I also found some ladybug shoes for her birthday for 50 cents and some ladybug hair clips that I'm super excited about. I didn't think the shoes would fit, but they do so they'll be perfect for her ladybug party! I'll show you the dress, but the birthday items will have to wait since she'll debut them at her party.
Isn't it cute? I can't wait for her to wear it this fall! If you haven't ever been to a Mom2Mom Sale, I highly suggest that you go to one if you're in need of baby/kid items. There are a lot of items that still have the tags on them or look like brand new. Kids outgrow clothes so fast and you can find some of those "special items" like costumes, snow pants, dress up clothes, etc. that your kids don't wear that much for good prices. Thanks to my mom for coming to help me with the sale. It was nice to have some company since I didn't know anyone else having a table. It was nice to have some help hauling the stuff in and out too. Since this was only my second time at a sale, I'm not familiar with the turnout, but I'd say there was a good amount of shoppers and the sale appeared to be a big success for many sellers!
Wow - I've never been to a mom-to-mom sale before. That looks like quite something. I have to get on the whole mom-to-mom and garage sale bandwagon. Paying full price for all new stuff is a little crazy sometimes given how quickly kids grow out of clothes and toys and such! Sounds like between your garage sale and this sale that you've done really well getting rid of your stuff!
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