I had a booth in a coop in NH for a few years. This was in the early to mid-90's when sales were brisk. It was a lot of work keeping QUALITY merchandise in stock. We attended auctions EVERY weekend during the auction season and, sometimes, on Thursday nights. I went at least twice/week to restock the booth.

In fact, it was so hard to find QUALITY merchandise that we sold a few pieces out of our collections that to this day we regret selling...no matter what price we got.

Today, it's even tougher to find inventory and prices/sales are really in the tank nationwide. It's cyclical...sorta like real estate. Very high-end stuff is still selling at good prices as it probably always will; but anything less just isn't selling.

By high-end...I mean 17th, 18th, & early 19th century Newport, Portsmouth, Pennsylvania, etc. furniture in original condition. My last catalogue (two weeks ago) from one of the Northeast's premier auction houses made me wonder if even these pieces aren't down.

Most of the stuff that was considered "collectible" during the 90's is out-of-vogue now...example: 50's lunch boxes & Fiesta (these aren't antiques but many shops carried them). The drop-off in these items reflects a change in decorating styles...switch from "country" to "Pottery Barn" in the twenty & thirty something crowds.

There are still niche markets for bottles; wine accessories; transferware; soft-paste; 17th & 18th sterling; paintings; and the other usual suspects. But, if you're considering anything other than really high quality, true antiques...my advise is: DON'T DO IT NOW!

Ask around at your local coops...call a few of the high-end brokers & auction houses...they'll talk to you...misery loves company! Have you noticed how many shops have gone out of business in the past 6-7 years? Between finding good quality inventory & slower sales...it's tough.

I hate to rain on your parade but we've been collecting & selling for decades & the market is going through one of it's low periods.

If you're a serious collector...now's a great time to buy though!

Tricia

Not sure if it's ok to say something like this here or not...if it's not, I'm sure somebody will come along & make it "all gone"! lol

We had our booth for tax purposes. We're serious collectors & the booth allowed us to write-off expenses such as gas, show fees, cost of the booth, etc. But, it was so much darn work...we decided we'd rather pay the taxes! Does that give you some idea of how much work's involved? :)

Yeah, we made a "profit" on individual items we sold; but, if you took the overall picture of what it actually costs to get that inventory...there was a loss every year...hence, our write-off. So, consider seriously exactly what you're expecting to get from opening a booth. Even a shelf, or two, in a mostly "smalls" coop will require constant attention & rotation of inventory. If your inventory stales...nothing sells from your booth.

We are in New England. Believe it...or not...most of what we sold went to other dealers from outside New England on buying trips for their own shops. So, depending on where you're located...be prepared to give a "dealer" discount above & beyond what you'd normally give. We required a State I.D. number before giving the "dealer" discount.

Tricia