In the life of ... A secondhand store owner

Thursday, May 7, 2009

When you work in the secondhand business, someone trying to sell you a bear rug is old hat.

Although Yellow House at 19th and Massachusetts streets mainly buys major appliances, you can hawk your guitars, video games or bricks from your backyard. Guy Neighbors has been in the secondhand business for 21 years and is co-owner of Yellow House. His wife, Carrie, also owns the business and Guy says he’s second in command. When his mother-in-law is around, he’s bumped down to third, he says.

Yellow House’s business has picked up as the economy has worsened, Neighbors says. He says people don’t want to pay for an expensive, new major appliance. Neighbors says he cleans all the appliances with bleach and touches up the paint.

If you want to sell something to Yellow House, bring it in and Neighbors will check the value of it on eBay. Then he’ll negotiate a price around the prices he finds online. Neighbors says people have tried to out-bargain him in his own store, and he’s had to ask them to leave.

Neighbors says his secondhand business is good for the community, because “the stuff we’re restoring would probably end up in a landfill.”

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