I survived one day of the World's Longest Yard Sale yesterday. My husband and I started the route in Trenton, GA and traveled to the south end in Gadsden, AL, on our way home from a trip to Chattanooga, TN.
First of all, my husband has never really experienced a yard sale before yesterday. He told me on the way home last night that I may regret ever introducing him to this form of shopping! I had to LOL! I think I've created a yard sale hopping monster man! He LOVED it. And all the time leading up to this part of our trip, I was thinking that he was going to be miserable all day while I took it all in. NOT! He out shopped me by several dollars and items. He's already planning a trip for next year specifically to take in as much of the WLYS that he can cram into four days!
Next, my impressions of the World's Longest Yard Sale...
If you are a lover of yard sales in general, you'll really LOVE this experience. If not, well, it's fun to do once to say you did it but you may want to plan something else for entertainment next time! I'm somewhere in between. I went with two primary purposes:
To say I'd been there! I first learned about the WLYS several years ago on HGTV and decided then that 'one day' I had to check this out. Mission accomplished. I can now say that I've been there. And based on my husband's attraction to this form of shopping, it looks highly likely that I'll be doing this again sometime.I was also scoping things out to see if this was something I wanted to pursue as a seller. While I didn't investigate as many of the clusters of 'yard sales' as I had hoped, I've come to the conclusion that I probably won't attempt this as a seller. If I lived in the neighborhood I may have a different opinion. But since I live several hundred miles from the closest point of the WLYS, I just don't think it would be cost effective for me.So how was it? The first word that comes to mind is HOT. It was very hot, even in the shade. And not all of the sellers were in the shade. Wear cool clothing, comfortable shoes, sunglasses and a hat. The hat was the hard part for me. I hate to wear hats. But I did yesterday to help shade my face. Plan to carry a bottle of water around with you so that you stay hydrated.
Be prepared to stop and start and pull off the side of the road to park. Yard sales are scattered along the route. Some are 'stand alone' yard sales while you'll also find clusters of individuals grouped together. Some locations are in the shade while others in out in the sun. Regardless, it's still HOT!
There are food and beverage vendors along the way but there's no way to predict when/where to find them. Some clusters are located near convenience stores and restaurants. Again, this is totally unpredictable so go prepared with some snacks.
You can drive miles without seeing anyone selling anything. You can encounter both large and small clusters, sometimes only a few hundred yards apart. Often in cluster situations, there will be sellers on both sides of the road. Be prepared to park and walk a little. It will save time and wear and tear on your vehicle.
At first, we stopped at several locations in succession. We quickly changed our strategy to stopping only at clusters. We had one day and wanted to take in as much as we could. Clusters were more efficient for us. We probably missed some great stuff by not stopping at individual sales but we had to make the best use of our time.
Along the way there were signs advertising both free space and 'for rent' space to set up to sell. I didn't really investigate the options because I had decided early on that this wasn't a selling strategy that I planned to pursue. I did think about some pros and cons of individual vs. cluster locations. The pros of one seem to be the cons of the other. Here's my take...
If you live along the route then obviously a huge pro is the convenience of setting up in your own front yard. It's also less expensive since you don't have travel, lodging and extra food costs to factor in.Another pro that I see for individual set ups is that you won't have to compete with a cluster of sellers to capture the attention of shoppers. The con side of this is that shoppers like me preferred clusters of yard sales because it was more efficient. So while you may not have to compete with bunch of other booths, you will probably have less people stopping to check out your stuff.Clusters are more likely to attract more shoppers. However, those shoppers can be easily distracted and even overwhelmed by, the number and variety of other sellers and their wares, so that's a con. Also, the cluster areas we checked out were very loosely organized. While attempts were made to create nice, neat rows of vendors, that isn't always the way it worked out! So navigating a cluster of sellers was challenging at times. Another con.Because I was looking through the eyes with a handmade bias, I was a bit disappointed to see as much commercially made stuff as I saw. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't at a craft show/fair--I was at a huge yard sale!
If you've ever considered checking out all or part of the World's Longest Yard Sale, I encourage you to plan a trip. In addition to a treasure hunt, you'll also experience seeing a part of the US countryside that you may not otherwise ever see. And you'll meet folks that will make you smile. Enjoy!
