Yard sales soar

People are shopping them more, and not just for fun.

Friday, Nov. 07, 2008

It's a good half hour before sunrise as Annie Rini sifts through piles of clothing and stacks of dishes spread on tables outside a northwest Fresno home.

It's the first of more than a dozen garage sales Rini will hit before 11 a.m. on a crisp fall Saturday. She doesn't do it just for fun.

"This is so out of necessity," said Rini, who paid $2 for a ceramic platter and an orange Tupperware bowl with lid.

Like Rini, more and more people are shopping at garage sales to save money in a bad economy. And more people are putting their belongings up for sale for gas money or to pay bills.

The trend began well before the downturn. A 2003 Brigham Young University study concluded middle-income people were beginning to shop yard sales "for more than just trinkets and books," said Ralph B. Brown, a study author, "but for clothes, kitchen wares and other essentials."

That trend is likely to increase, Brown believes. "The current economic meltdown will only send more middle-income earners and others to [yard sales and thrift shops] for more types of items," he wrote in an e-mail.

The city of Fresno does not require yard sale permits and doesn't have figures for the number of sales held annually. But yard sales are up in at least two other Valley towns.

In Selma, where permits are $10, there were 697 yard sales from July 1 to Nov. 5. That's 140 more sales than during the same period the previous year.

The trend also is up in Sanger, where permits are required, but are free. During the 2006 calendar year, there were 188 yard sales in Sanger. There were 214 sales in 2007 and 228 sales through the end of October this year.

Reedley bucks the trend slightly. There were 425 yard sales in Reedley during fiscal year 2007-08, 10 fewer than in the previous fiscal year. Reedley's permits are $10.

Rini of Fresno, who works full-time for the city's One Call center, shops Fresno garage sales nearly every Saturday. The bargains she finds are especially helpful now that her husband, Larry, has been laid off from his maintenance job with Fresno Unified School District.

On a recent Saturday, Rini stopped at a parking lot sale at Bethel Christian Church on First Street where she found a bottle of her favorite brand of hair spray for $1. It sells in stores for about $3.

Later, Rini stopped at a garage sale at a northeast Fresno home where she joined other shoppers hunting for bargains. For example, Diana Martinez was going through a box of little girls' dress-up costumes for her 10-month-old daughter.

Shopping at yard sales "has become more of an economic necessity," Martinez said.

"I work part time because of my daughter," Martinez said. "It makes me feel better to save. Anything I can do to save money, I'll do it."

At another yard sale just down the street, Angie Gonzales said yard sales are a good place to shop when money is tight.

"There are times when I don't have the money, when I can find things for less" at yard sales, said Gonzales, who was looking for a computer desk.

People who hold the yard sales where Rini and others shop are often looking for economic help themselves.

Ophelia and Larry Fane had a yard sale set up at their Yale Avenue home for several days.

"We need money for gas," Ophelia Fane said.

In tough economic times like these, people may be tempted to have ongoing yard sales. But such yard sales are prohibited by the city, said Jerry Schuber, operations supervisor of the code enforcement division. Sales that stay up up for several days "become a retail use," he said.

Fresno residents are allowed to hold only three garage sales per year, Schuber said. The city's code enforcement division has four employees who work on weekends, Schuber said, and one of their tasks is to monitor garage sales, either by driving by or fielding complaints.

Most people abide by the rule once they're notified, Schuber said. He doesn't remember the last time the city had to fine someone.