The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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  • Brian Ojanpa

    Sales

June 5, 2009

Garage sale mania

In Mankato, it's anything and everything

By Brian Ojanpa

MANKATO — Bonnie Jacobson and Wendy Schwab were clam-happy about their garage sale success.

“We had something for everybody. I don’t think anybody went out of here without buying something,” Jacobson said Friday in her North Mankato garage, site of a six-family rummage sale that began Thursday.

Jacobson and Schwab said the sale, which included coins, jewelry, CDs, clothing and comic books, took in about $2,000 Thursday alone and was part of a Free Press-sponsored citywide garage sale involving the greater Mankato area.

With more than 60 sales going on, there was no shortage of “stuff,” and Therese Lynard, for one, was glad she found some to her liking.

The Madison Lake resident stopped by the North Mankato sale and said she was thrilled to find an Oriental lantern that’s a perfect fit for her home decor.

“I bought it on impulse,” said Lynard, who thinks the first-ever citywide sale was long overdue.

“I think it’s wonderful. If I had more energy, I’d go to all of them.”

In Mankato, people were perusing wares at a sale on Adams Street just off North Riverfront Drive.

The sale, in a rented industrial building the size of a small airplane hangar, has been running on weekends for about a month but is about to take a mandated hiatus.

Jarad Cates, stepson of the enterprise’s owner Larry Orr, said city regulations stipulate the building must be brought up to code, so the sale will shut down a few weeks while the necessary work is done.

Cates said consignment items and inventory acquired at auctions will provide the business with a steady stream of merchandise.

“It’s fascinating going through this stuff,” Cates said, listing items such as old magazines in mint condition and a vintage water fountain from an old Nicollet school.

As Jacobson’s and Schwab’s sale wound down, remaining items were being offered at half price and the pair was making plans for spending the money they made.

Jacobson said she’s going to remodel her bedroom while Schwab, in true garage sale maven tradition, declared that she’s going to go out and buy more stuff to replace the stuff she sold.

“I gotta keep the economy going,” she said.

The citywide garage sale continues through today.

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