The Great Woodhaven Yard Sale, a neighborhood-wide event that gives Woodhaven residents a chance to sell their pre-loved items in an all-time classic American tradition, completed its two-Saturday bargaining stretch this month.
The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association hosted the Great Woodhaven Yard Sale on Saturday, June 1, and Saturday, June 8. Seventy-five participating houses sold their goods between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
In an earlier conversation with Vance Barbour, the event coordinator of the Great Woodhaven Yard Sale and director of the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association, he told QNS the event is geared more towards building the Woodhaven community.
“What we found is that participants generally saw a ton of business on Saturday and hardly any business on Sunday. So, while participants may have wanted to do more than just one day, there was no interest in extending the event to include Saturday and Sunday,” Barbour explained.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, photos of some of this year’s sellers and their merchandise made for an added bonus to this year’s sellers and participants. Incorporating more digital aspects to the event meant bringing more customers to the yard sale and allowing for a sneak peek of their supply.
A map provided by the Great Woodhaven Yard Sale detailed which homes participated in the final organized yard sale with the group for the year. The map provided participants with a general idea of where each sale took place, and a shared list of addresses also detailed which Saturday each yard sale would be open.
On the first Saturday, many shoppers flooded the yard sales, Barbour shared in an email recap with participants. The slew of shoppers also brought with it some downtime for the sellers, but it did not get in the way of seeing more buyers later in the day.
Barbour shared that another suggestion for sellers to keep in mind for next year involves showing what they have to offer online. Some yard sale holders used photos and videos to give sellers a glimpse at what they had to offer, such as furniture or collectibles. Barbour is considering having participants fill out product categories next year.
“Overall, I think things went quite well,” Barbour shared in his email update. “In my travels on Saturday, I ran into four households that regularly had yard sales that did not know this event was occurring. I asked them if they saw increased foot traffic compared to normal, and they unanimously said ‘Yes.’ So we know it does work.”
Two pieces of advice the yard sale director himself shared for bargain hunters: Bring lots of cash and embrace the art of haggling politely and respectably.
The Woodhaven Residents Property Owners Association is comprised of residents who continuously help local businesses and serve the greater community through advocacy. The Annual yard sale event is expected to return.
Anyone looking to learn more and stay informed about next year’s event should follow The Great Woodhaven Yard Sale on Facebook, contact thegreatwoodhavenyardsale@gmail.com or call (718) 296-3735.
