Otero Junior College Chinook

Auction Shopping

Wow! That was one amazing shopping spree—not at the mall or furniture store though—my incredible buys were purchased at an auction in Lamar, Colorado. Previously cramped in a one bedroom apartment, our new three bedroom home needed furnishing. A short month later, our new home was entirely furnished for just five hundred dollars. My remarkable purchases included a matching ivory loveseat and couch, a country French dining table with four chairs, an antique wooden rocking chair, an oak coffee table, and a play kitchen for my daughters Ally and Macy. Auctions are not just for treasure seekers though; they are a smart business, a social outlet, and educational.

Those who seek treasures at auctions are in a smart business because the merchandise purchased has turnover power. Many local Arkansas Valley sales in the last year have offered this opportunity to individuals. One particular business example is Betty’s Closet, a little thrift store on Third Street in La Junta, Colorado. The shelves overflow with crystal glassware, small figurines, collectable dishes, and thousands of tiny knick-knacks. One day while shopping at Betty’s Closet, I couldn’t help but notice an older woman. Standing back, I watched as she pushed her way to the front of the store. She wore thick, yellowed glasses, clothes that appeared sixty years old—the type that if the elastic was stretched, it would never pull itself back together again—and her white, damaged hair frizzled in every direction. She held her auction card in the air, until “Sold! Number seventeen,” rang through the speakers. She busied herself loading her goodies. The north and south basement of Betty’s Closet had been jam-packed with heaps of boxes stretching all the way to the ceiling. Side tables, old televisions, a small white antique drop–leaf table, an antique vanity, and lots of odds and ends scattered the cement floor. Each basement room sold for two dollars and fifty cents, and I was the lucky buyer. Two loads hauled and several left, I immediately turned the money spent into seventy dollars by hauling it to the Las Animas consignment auction the following day.