Garage sale alternative.HOME FURNISHINGS ON CONSIGNMENT SELLS USED GOODS FROM A LARGE SHOWROOM IN WESTLAKE VILLAGE, GIVING THE FORMER OWNERS FROM ONE-THIRD TO ONE-HALF THE FINAL SALE PRICE Vince Lopez just knew' that his old furniture wouldn't fit the decor of the Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. home he had recently bought. What's more, the Calabasas insurance agent couldn't find a store that wanted to buy it - and he certainly didn't want to hold a garage sale that would force him to practically give it away. Eventually he ran across an ad in the local paper for Home Furnishings on Consignment, which takes furniture and sells it to people looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. quality items at bargain prices. The proceeds are then split with the consigners. Mike Pegler, owner of the Westlake Village consignment business, came to Lopez's home and gave him an appraisal. "It was considerably more than I ever could get from trying to sell it myself," Lopez said. "He took the furniture to the showroom, and it all sold at the price he set for it." For more than a year, Pegler has been selling high-quality furniture in suburbia - and in the process, tapping into the growing consignment trend. "Usually, I can tell right away if it's a piece that I think I can move quickly at the right price," said Pegler. "This was the missing link that I had been looking for. It was a way to get the furniture sold at an acceptable price." Consignment stores consignment store n. A retail store that stocks and sells merchandise on consignment. have been around for decades, mostly in the clothing industry. Only recently has the strategy spread to furniture. "People can see the furniture in a nice atmosphere and buy it for one-third to one-half of the new price," said Adele Meyer, manager of the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops thrift shop n. A shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization. . "lt also gives people a place to have their furniture sold without going through the hassle of a garage sale." Furniture consignment stores remain a rarity in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , in part because of the area's large number of used furniture shops. (Consignment stores are popping up in Palm Springs, Phoenix, Seattle and Florida, among other places.) "This business thrives on upscale clientele in upscale neighborhoods who understand the value of quality furniture," Pegler said. He has been around furniture much of his life. His father has been a distributor for more than 40 years - as was the 37-year-old Pegler before he stumbled into the consignment business. As a manufacturer's representative in Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern , he often got stuck with furniture that was damaged in shipping or that customers didn't want to buy. It was too expensive to send the pieces back to manufacturers on the East Coast, and it also proved difficult to sell damaged or pricey Pricey Term used for an unrealistically low bid price or unrealistically high offer price. pricey Of, relating to, or being an unrealistically high offer. An offer to sell a security at $50 when the current market price is $47 is pricey. pieces to used furniture outlets. As a result, he frequently had to accept fire-sale prices to get rid of the furniture, which of course meant steep drops in his commissions. Then, in the early 1990s, Pegler started doing business with a furniture consignment store in Northern California that picked up his unsold pieces, displayed them in a showroom, and gave him a cut of the sale. Pegler didn't start his own business fight away because he didn't have the inventory and start-up capital. Then in late 1997, after a banner year in sales, he saw his commission cut. "That was the last straw last straw n. The last of a series of annoyances or disappointments that leads one to a final loss of patience, temper, trust, or hope. [ . I decided then and there to start up my own business," he said. Pegler moved to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and opened his store in Westlake Village, in part because his wife - then pregnant with twins wanted to be close to her family in Camarillo. Also. Westlake Village was the kind of suburban market that he thought would work best for consignment sales consignment sale auction sales of consignments of breeding cattle which are excess to the owner's requirements. . It took about six months to find space for a showroom, accumulate inventory, and secure a U.S. Small Business Administration loan. In June 1998, he opened the doors of the 10,000-square-foot showroom in a strip mall strip mall n. A shopping complex containing a row of various stores, businesses, and restaurants that usually open onto a common parking lot. Noun 1. . During its first year, Home Furnishings on Consignment posted $1.2 million in revenues, and Pegler said sales for the first two months of his second year are running about 50 percent over the like period last year. (Initially, Pegler and his wife had formed a partnership with another married couple to own and operate the store. But the partnership dissolved within nine months, leaving Pegler and his wife to run the store on their own.) Customers vary. Some are recently divorced or widowed; others are empty- nesters moving to smaller living quarters. Then there are those who simply want to switch decor as part of a remodeling remodeling /re·mod·el·ing/ (re-mod´el-ing) reorganization or renovation of an old structure. bone remodeling . "I had one gentleman come in who got divorced two years ago and had been storing the furniture from his old home," Pegler said. "He didn't want to put an ad in the paper or sell it for less than it was worth to a used furniture store. He was just waiting for the right circumstance to part with it." For each piece of furniture, Pegler typically offers one-third to one-half the original purchase price. If the owner agrees, a contract is signed specifying the price range, with a 20 percent "leeway lee·way n. 1. The drift of a ship or an aircraft to leeward of the course being steered. 2. A margin of freedom or variation, as of activity, time, or expenditure; latitude. See Synonyms at room. " in case the piece doesn't sell after 45 days. The owner is guaranteed 60 percent of the final sales price before the pieces are trucked to the showroom. Pegler said about 80 percent of the furniture sells within two months. He marks down the pieces that don't sell as quickly and tries again. If they still don't move, they are returned to the consigner con·sign v. con·signed, con·sign·ing, con·signs v.tr. 1. To give over to the care of another; entrust. 2. . He ultimately wants to open a chain of consignment stores, similar to the ones in Northern California that inspired him. The most likely site for the next store is West L.A. because of its upscale demographics. Meanwhile, he plans to branch into jewelry jewelry, personal adornments worn for ornament or utility, to show rank or wealth, or to follow superstitious custom or fashion. The most universal forms of jewelry are the necklace, bracelet, ring, pin, and earring. consignment next month. "So many of the people who consign consign v. 1) to deliver goods to a merchant to sell on behalf of the party delivering the items, as distinguished from transferring to a retailer at a wholesale price for re-sale. Example: leaving one's auto at a dealer to sell and split the profit. their furniture to me also have jewelry they want to sell at a good price, so it seems to be a natural follow," he said. Spotlight Home Furnishings on Consigment Year Founded: 1998 Core Business: Selling furniture on consignment and splitting the proceeds with the owner Employees in 1998: 4 Employees in 1999: 8 Revenues for Year Ended June 1999: $1.2 million Goal: Become the first furniture consignment chain in the Los Angeles area Driving Force: Lack of outlets for people to sell used quality furniture at acceptable prices |
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