1 CommentRick Norsigan is the current rock star of flea-market fanatics. Ten years ago, he bought 65 old negatives at a garage sale for $45 in Fresno, Calif.. They are now believed to be the work of Ansel Adams, worth $200 million.
Debbie Shepherd does not have tales of that magnitude, but she and other local treasure hunters have many stories of enviable bargains. In Debbie’s case, they include a $300 Cuisinart food processor thrown in for free after she bought some furniture, a $10 purse that sells new for $400 and a $500 KitchenAid mixer for $10 with all the attachments, found in an unopened cabinet at an estate sale.
Growing up with less, realtor Debbie says, she had to learn to be creative and stretch her money. That started her life-long love of bargain hunting, especially for the unusual and interesting. Her Galveston vacation home is almost completely decorated in weekend finds, sporting, for example, a 6-foot-tall neon palm tree that she bought in Montrose for $8.
Megan Nicholas chooses vintage earrings at The Guild Shop of St. John the Divine, considered by many thrifters to be a top location to find upscale bargains.
But she doesn’t look only for household items. She is also a specialist at bargain-hunting clothing and accessories. She helps friends and coworkers dress their children for a complete season in name-brand clothing for under $50 for each child.
Some items are just too good to keep to herself, like the old oil painting she saw for $5 at an estate sale. The date said 1896, and the signature was “Ida Pace.” Internet research showed Ida to be an early member of Chi Omega sorority and the first editor of their national magazine. Debbie called Chi Omega’s headquarters, offering to sell the painting to them for $10.
Instead, Chi Omega paid her $100 so they could display it with their historical archives.
Part of bargain hunting is knowing where to look.
Megan Nicholas loves searching Montrose stores like The Guild Shop of St. John the Divine, 2009 Dunlavy, and The Blue Bird Circle Resale Shop, 614 W. Alabama, for jewelry, furniture and crystal candlesticks.
Debbie also has favorite stores for bargains, such as Value Village and Family Thrift Center, both with several locations, but most of her finds come from garage and estate sales. Her approach is to focus on certain zones – Montrose, Bellaire and West University – where the items she finds are most likely to coincide with her taste. She checks listings in local newspapers and online to see where sales are, and keeps her eyes peeled for signs as she is driving from one yard sale to the next.
She starts at 7 a.m. on Saturday mornings to beat “the hawks,” as she calls them, the professional garage sellers who re-sell to thrift stores for a profit. And she is fast. She can check out six sales in an hour if they are not too far apart.
Debbie’s friends call her “The Bargainnouncer” because when someone compliments her on a find, she likes to announce how inexpensively she bought it.
But other bargain hunters, such as an inner-loop attorney with a penchant for Ferragomo shoes, like to keep their great deals under wraps.
Thanks to eBay, only she and her computer know about the low prices she pays for her upscale heels, with a typical retail price tag of $400. She set up eBay alerts, so she gets notice whenever a Ferragamo pair in her size come up for auction. “I have not paid more than $30 a pair, and they have all fit perfectly.”
But if the hunt is part of the fun, what do avid hunters do when they run out of room for all their bargains? Some, like Sandy Holman and Pat Pixley, open a booth in an antique mall. Pat cycles interesting finds through her home, then sells them at the booth when she is ready for a different look. (They recently moved their booth to New Braunfels, where Pat has a second home.)
“Pat has a great eye for retail,” said Sandy, a teacher. “Sometimes, she can sense when something modern is going to be popular, and she will look for bargains on that. Other times, she will take something ordinary, like antique crystal salt shakers, fill them with talc and sell tons of them.”
Others are more like Debbie, a self-described “very organized stasher.” And she loves to share things with friends who are looking for specific items.
“I just love it when someone says to me, ‘Hey Debbie, I need a … if you ever run across one,’ and I can say, ‘Yeah, I just happen to have three of those. Come on over and take a peek!’”
