We’re having a heat wave here in Medina, Ohio, home of the universe famous Tony Isabella Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales. That has made it difficult for me to get ready for the sales because it’s so hot in the garage. That and a few other household and personal issues have caused me to change what I’m planning and push back the start of my garage sale by a week.
The most important thing about having garage sales in the midst of a pandemic is limiting the number of customers I have in my garage at any given time. Towards that end, you can make an appointment to shop at my sale.
You have to e-mail me or send me a private message on Facebook to schedule your appointment. These appointments are one-on-one, but I will allow you to bring one other person to the sale. No one but you, your guest and yours truly will be in the garage during your appointment. There are rules, but I’ll get to them a little further down in today’s bloggy.
If you see my garage door open for an appointment, you will be able to shop at my sale AFTER the customer who made the appointment has finished shopping and left the garage. I’ll have chairs set up in the driveway so you can maintain your social distance until it is your turn to shop. I will only allow two customers in my garage at any given time.
My first appointment is on Monday, July 20, at noon. My second is on Tuesday, July 21, at 9 am. If there are customers waiting, I’ll keep the sale going until you’ve all had your chance to shop at my sale. But, again, only two at a time.
I'll be as flexible as possible with these appointments. Most of the time, I can schedule appointments any day of the week and any time of the day from 9 am to 7 pm. However, sometimes, I’ll be too busy with other stuff to give you the appointment you request.
In addition to the appointments, I plan on opening my garage door most every Friday and Saturday from 9 am to noon. Only two people will be allowed in the garage at a time.
There are other equally important rules.
YOU MUST WEAR A MASK. If you absurdly find this to be some sort of infringement on your freedom, don’t come to my garage sale. I will not make an exception for you.
MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING AT ALL TIMES. Try to keep six feet away from any other customer. Most of my tables are six feet long, which will give you a good idea of what that distance is.
USE THE HAND SANITIZER OR WIPES. I’ll have hand sanitizer and wipes as you walk into the garage sale. I’ll have also have a few extra masks in case you forgot yours at home.
CASH ONLY. At some point in the distant future, when the world is a little safer and conventions are again possible, I will be able to take credit cards. Not this year.
NO WEAPONS. Unless you are an on duty police officer or member of the armed service, you will not be allowed to bring any gun, rifle, bazooka, sword, bow and arrows, etc. onto my property. Don’t try to “outfox” me trying to bring something not included on this list as I have a very wide range of what I consider “etc.”
NO RACIST GEAR. This includes (but is not remotely limited to) Confederate paraphernalia, white supremacist paraphernalia and anything Trump or MAGA related. It’s a garage sale, not a platform for your political, religious or social stuff. My property, my rules.
My garage sale is still coming together at this point. I know I’ll have lots of comic books for sale, many of them priced at a dollar or a quarter. I’ll have Isabella-related books and posters. There will be lots of books and trade paperbacks. There will be cool odds and ends. There will be almost two tables of DVDs and Blu-rays at a buck or two each. There will be copies of the British comic war digest Commando at fifty cents a pop.
My $10 mystery boxes will be in short supply initially because it does take me quite a bit of time to put them together. Until I have more of them, I’ll be limiting their sale to one per customer per visit. Still, since one of the primary objectives of my VAOS garage sales is to reduce significantly my Vast Accumulation of Stuff, I’ll try to increase the availability of the mystery boxes over the summer.
As always, if you buy Isabella books or items from me, I will sign them for free.
In the past, I’ve also signed Isabella stuff for free, even if you didn’t buy it from me. I’m still going to do that...with a caveat. You must first buy $25 worth of stuff from me before I’ll sign your “didn’t buy it from me” Isabella items for free. Otherwise, I’ll be charging my usual $5 per signature.
I’m going to post updates on my garage sale in this blog and on my social media [Facebook and Twitter]. I’ll post my usual notices on Craig’s List and on Next Door. I won’t be advertising in the local Medina newspaper because, well, because those expensive classified ads have rarely bought me any customers.
If there are questions about my garage sale that I haven’t answered in the above, feel free to e-mail or private message me. I’ll do my best to answer them to your satisfaction.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with more stuff. Be safe, be sane, be wonderful to one another.
© 2020 Tony Isabella
The most important thing about having garage sales in the midst of a pandemic is limiting the number of customers I have in my garage at any given time. Towards that end, you can make an appointment to shop at my sale.
You have to e-mail me or send me a private message on Facebook to schedule your appointment. These appointments are one-on-one, but I will allow you to bring one other person to the sale. No one but you, your guest and yours truly will be in the garage during your appointment. There are rules, but I’ll get to them a little further down in today’s bloggy.
If you see my garage door open for an appointment, you will be able to shop at my sale AFTER the customer who made the appointment has finished shopping and left the garage. I’ll have chairs set up in the driveway so you can maintain your social distance until it is your turn to shop. I will only allow two customers in my garage at any given time.
My first appointment is on Monday, July 20, at noon. My second is on Tuesday, July 21, at 9 am. If there are customers waiting, I’ll keep the sale going until you’ve all had your chance to shop at my sale. But, again, only two at a time.
I'll be as flexible as possible with these appointments. Most of the time, I can schedule appointments any day of the week and any time of the day from 9 am to 7 pm. However, sometimes, I’ll be too busy with other stuff to give you the appointment you request.
In addition to the appointments, I plan on opening my garage door most every Friday and Saturday from 9 am to noon. Only two people will be allowed in the garage at a time.
There are other equally important rules.
YOU MUST WEAR A MASK. If you absurdly find this to be some sort of infringement on your freedom, don’t come to my garage sale. I will not make an exception for you.
MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING AT ALL TIMES. Try to keep six feet away from any other customer. Most of my tables are six feet long, which will give you a good idea of what that distance is.
USE THE HAND SANITIZER OR WIPES. I’ll have hand sanitizer and wipes as you walk into the garage sale. I’ll have also have a few extra masks in case you forgot yours at home.
CASH ONLY. At some point in the distant future, when the world is a little safer and conventions are again possible, I will be able to take credit cards. Not this year.
NO WEAPONS. Unless you are an on duty police officer or member of the armed service, you will not be allowed to bring any gun, rifle, bazooka, sword, bow and arrows, etc. onto my property. Don’t try to “outfox” me trying to bring something not included on this list as I have a very wide range of what I consider “etc.”
NO RACIST GEAR. This includes (but is not remotely limited to) Confederate paraphernalia, white supremacist paraphernalia and anything Trump or MAGA related. It’s a garage sale, not a platform for your political, religious or social stuff. My property, my rules.
My garage sale is still coming together at this point. I know I’ll have lots of comic books for sale, many of them priced at a dollar or a quarter. I’ll have Isabella-related books and posters. There will be lots of books and trade paperbacks. There will be cool odds and ends. There will be almost two tables of DVDs and Blu-rays at a buck or two each. There will be copies of the British comic war digest Commando at fifty cents a pop.
My $10 mystery boxes will be in short supply initially because it does take me quite a bit of time to put them together. Until I have more of them, I’ll be limiting their sale to one per customer per visit. Still, since one of the primary objectives of my VAOS garage sales is to reduce significantly my Vast Accumulation of Stuff, I’ll try to increase the availability of the mystery boxes over the summer.
As always, if you buy Isabella books or items from me, I will sign them for free.
In the past, I’ve also signed Isabella stuff for free, even if you didn’t buy it from me. I’m still going to do that...with a caveat. You must first buy $25 worth of stuff from me before I’ll sign your “didn’t buy it from me” Isabella items for free. Otherwise, I’ll be charging my usual $5 per signature.
I’m going to post updates on my garage sale in this blog and on my social media [Facebook and Twitter]. I’ll post my usual notices on Craig’s List and on Next Door. I won’t be advertising in the local Medina newspaper because, well, because those expensive classified ads have rarely bought me any customers.
If there are questions about my garage sale that I haven’t answered in the above, feel free to e-mail or private message me. I’ll do my best to answer them to your satisfaction.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with more stuff. Be safe, be sane, be wonderful to one another.
© 2020 Tony Isabella
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