FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER!

I was in line at my favorite beach-town thrift store when the woman behind me said, “Young people don’t want those antique dishes anymore.”

“Uh, that’s not true,” I said. “I sell them to young brides all the time.”

“My friend has an antique store,” she said, “and young people never come in.”

“That’s because they shop online,” I said. “Tell your friend to list them on Facebook Marketplace.”

“Well, she doesn’t do that stuff,” the woman said.

And there you have it.

I sell to brides, expectant mothers, young couples, guys heading off to college, etc. They’ve come for cancer luncheons, bridal showers, assisted living homes, and once for their British mother’s funeral. Most want pink florals, and most want a bunch of sets that are individual from one another, not matching. Martha Stewart made that popular in the early 2000s.

“Are you still buying dishes?” more than one friend has asked.

Of course. That’s how retail businesses work. I can’t believe that people don’t understand this.  You buy inventory, people come to buy, and then you have to buy more inventory to replenish. It’s not a problem until you decide to quit, and then you have to donate the rest.

I’m not ready to quit. People have been coming in a steady stream since last summer. Mother’s Day weekend was dead. March was surprisingly quiet, but while I was in Iowa last week, I had people demanding to come over ASAP for their tea party the next day. They were SOL, and so was I. I missed some big sales.

I have to live my life. I can’t stay home all the time, waiting. It’s not a shop. People need to make an appointment for a certain time and then show up at that time, not an hour before, not an hour later. Not the next day, as one woman did.

I won’t give out my address until we have agreed on a time. One woman wanted me to bring it all to Mountain View (42 miles) so she could choose. Another woman wanted a porch pick-up and would I please photograph everything? If I had a higher mark-up, maybe I would agree. But I don’t, so I won’t do that. One woman wanted me to photograph the backs of all the plates after I sent her photos of the fronts. No, no, and no.

You can’t expect to get an awesome tea cup and saucer set (not perfect matches in many cases) for $5.00. If you are willing to drive here, you won’t be disappointed. For every person who shows up, there are five who don’t. That’s okay. Anyone who makes me work that hard before they even get here won’t want to pay my price, anyway.

I get it. Lots of old ladies are cleaning out their attics. They will come down in price just to get rid of the stuff. This is my side hustle for three reasons. I love dishes. It’s fun. I make a profit. If I didn’t, why bother?

So please don’t whine to me that you want five $10 dollar teapots for $35 because you can’t afford $50. For that woman, I didn’t mind telling her that I was out of town.

Because I really was, and it was better than telling her to buzz off.

P.S. The tea cups in the photo are Royal Albert English bone china, and the woman paid me $10 each. The woman was in town on Memorial Day weekend from San Mateo and showed up Sunday evening with cash in hand. She only wanted Royal Albert (thus, the photo) and ended up buying six in five minutes, my kind of customer.