Several years ago, my two sisters and I were chatting about having upcoming individual garage sales at our houses as we traveled back to Birmingham from Cullman on I-65. We spied a huge billboard on the highway advertising the Gardendale Flea Mall at an upcoming exit, and we decided to check it out. One moment we are talking about getting rid of stuff….the next, we are happily looking forward to buying more!

Even though, we were all in a “down sizing” mode, we still found several great bargains, and unique items that we could not live without! Talking with the owner at check-out, we learned that we could rent a booth at the Gardendale Flea Mall for an entire month for less than the three garage sale classified ads would cost.

During the final leg of the trip home, we remembered some of the realities of our last yard sale….early birds knocking on the door at 5AM…..lugging stuff out and then back in when it did not sell….no sleep the night before as we had procrastinated on our pricing…worrying about rain….and so on and so forth! We became convinced that a booth at the Gardendale Flea Mall and Antique Center was an easy answer to our out of control lives and homes.

Our plan was to do it for just a month to unload this “stuff” ~ however, when we got that first check, we were singing another tune. The beauty of having a booth at the Gardendale Flea Mall is there is no long term commitment; however, years later we are still having fun and smiling at the check each month…so, I foresee us being there for a quite a while.

My sisters and I had always talked about having a little antique shop one day….but, we have pretty much put that talk to rest! When we consider that for our monthly booth rental, we get not only the space; but, a huge billboard on the interstate in addition to other print advertising, a bookkeeper, sales staff, heat, light and power, and someone else to handle all the other headaches and costs that go into having any type of shop, we are staying right where we are in Gardendale! If we need more space, we will just get another booth!

We say that it is like having a yard sale everyday. And, best of all…we do not have to show up for it!

Dealer #194

Cathy