Frequently Asked Question - What's Selling?

Several times a week we get asked "What's selling?" Our answers vary from time to time, though they don't change quickly. And answers may be more complicated than you think.

We could almost say with honesty that "everything" is selling. By that we mean there are very few things we just "can't GIVE away." Pretty much anything can be sold - no matter how dated, strange, or just plain unattractive it is - if the price is right.

Pricing is key, of course, because items with value go up and down with the marketplace, the economy, and changes in taste and style. One of the most interesting aspects of owning The Living Room Emporium is explaining to collectors the changes in the marketplace...that their lladros and Madame Alexander dolls aren't worth what they paid for them. So many people who ordered Danbury Mint plates and Shirley Temple dolls, etc. are forced to accept that if this was their retirement plan, then they'd better plan to hang onto their day jobs.

Again, that doesn't mean there's NO market for them. Just a smaller market for them. There aren't nearly as many people with extra pocket change, who can make frivolous purchases, and a shrinking number who are choosing such goods to sink their investments into...especially the 30 and under crowd.

Precious metals are a better bet. When the economy gets shaky, people feel confident investing in gold and silver. And we've all seen that market go through the roof. Similarly, Jeannie and I have witnessed the craze for sterling silver - jewelry, flatware, whatever form customers can get it, they want it. We listed a bracelet on ebay and, because it said "sterling .925" on the back of it, in one day we had someone message us to ask if we'd take $65 for it. There were no precious stones or gems in it. We've also had a fair number of customers come in and scour the store looking for sterling.

Silver plate is a whole other ballgame. Unfortunately, its popularity is somewhere in the ballpark with Beanie Babies and Barbie Dolls.

Back to the question at hand. What IS selling? There are the practical, useful items - purses, pitchers, teacups/saucers. And there is some market, we've found, for lladros and Hummels...but they sell in the 2-dogit range rather than the 3-digit range, as they used to. The moral of the story is: keep your expectations low.