Sarah Staley is the owner and curator of Velvet Peach Vintage, a home decor and clothing seller specializing in the period spanning from the 1950s to Y2K. A recent guest on my podcast House of Lou, Staley has years of experience sourcing everything from art and sofas, glassware and pottery, which she sells at her booths located inside the Green Shag Market and The Hill Antique Market.
Staley describes St. Louis’s estate-sale culture as rich, abundant, and competitive. “You’ll hear that from people who come from Illinois or are traveling and stopping at sales,” she says. “There’s a lot to buy [here], but there’s also a lot of other people who want to buy stuff, too.”
Get a weekly dose of home and style inspiration
Subscribe to the St. Louis Design+Home newsletter to explore the latest stories from the local interior design, fashion, and retail scene.
If you’re new to estate sales or want to up your game by learning from someone who shops them for a living, read on for Staley’s no-fail tips.
How do I find out about upcoming estate sales?
Staley attends a sale almost every weekend. “In a month, I would say I go to around 10 estate sales,” she says. In St. Louis, sales are typically held on Saturday and Sunday, with a few companies starting on Friday. To find out about upcoming sales, Staley relies on estatesales.net. Downloading the company’s app, she adds, offers an easy and convenient way to find sales and details you’ll need to know. “Some places only take cash, or maybe they take a card, but they’re going to charge you a fee; maybe they take Venmo,” says Staley. Details on the app also include discounting structure as the sale progresses.
What can I glean from looking closely at the photos posted to the site?
“I really like to go off of the vibes of the photos,” says Staley. “Chances are, if you’re seeing some things you like in a home, especially if you like their furniture or their lighting or art, the chances are you’re going to like a lot of the other things that those homeowners also liked, such as glassware and even clothing.” Other than the items in the photos, Staley inspects them to see how packed a house is. “A really packed house that has a lot of stuff can be a good sign because that can mean there are many things that aren’t in the photographs, so there’s the opportunity to find treasures you didn’t know were there–and that there’s likely to be a mix of a lot of things from different decades in the home.”
What, in particular, do you like to scout for at estate sales?
Art. “You can find unique original art for way cheaper than you would get it anywhere else,” says Staley.
What are your tips for seeing as much as possible in the shortest amount of time?
“I always like to start big and work my way to smaller items. So, if I’m going for furniture, I start there because it’s the biggest items, and they’re often what people are really going after,” she says. Otherwise, Staley works by category. “If I know I’m most interested in kitchen stuff, I go to the kitchen first. If I’m most interested in clothing, I hit the closets.” Don’t forget to look in the basement, she adds. That’s where older items migrate or are demoted to when families change their style and update their furnishings.
There’s merit to looking for specific things, “but having an open mind is a good policy because you never know what you’re going to find.”
What are line numbers?
Shoppers receive a line number upon arrival at a sale. The line numbers tell you where you fall in the order of people who get access to the house. One thing to keep in mind: There’s usually a line for the line numbers. “Estate sales can be as competitive and as intense as you want them to be,” says Staley. For those who want something in particular, Staley suggests arriving at least one hour before the line numbers are distributed. “If they say sale at nine, numbers out at eight, I would want to be there about an hour before that, so 7 o’clock.”
What’s all the drama with line numbers?
As we’ve learned, there’s often a line for the line numbers–and often the line is a self-monitored car lineup. This can be confusing for people who are new to estate sales. “The rookie mistake I see is people who walk up to the door and they think they’re the first one there,” says Staley. “They think they’re going to get line number one, and then everyone gets out of their cars and they’re like, ‘No, you’re number 15 here.’ People either go, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.’ Or they double down and they’re like, ‘No.’ That’s one of the more heated things you can see.”
Avoid the drama by stepping out of your car upon arrival. Staley finds someone who can tell her who she follows. “They’re like, ‘Okay, you got here after the red Honda Civic.’ And I’m like, Okay, when we all get out for the line numbers, when the company gets here, I get behind that guy,” she says. If there’s going to be drama at a sale, that’s usually where it happens, says Staley.
What’s your take on the estate-sale scene in St. Louis?
“We have a great estate sale scene. It’s abundant,” says Staley. “We have a lot of sales with a lot of great variety. People come from other cities to source here for all kinds of things.”
What’s the average amount of time you spend inside an estate sale?
The amount of time varies from anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour. “I was at a sale last weekend where people were there for over an hour just because there was so much stuff in the house,” she says.
Is it OK to ask for discounts?
This is one of those issues that varies by the company. Check the notes on the listing at estatesales.net to learn about pricing. It could say prices firm on the first day. “I’m respectful of that,” says Staley. “My advice is if you really like something and it’s in your budget and you think the price is fair, just buy it,” she says. On the sale’s second day, Staley says it’s OK to ask for a discount–in addition to what is already offered on the second day–as the day goes on. “If you come on the second day and there are things that are still there, that’s when you can ask for discounts because they’re motivated to move it.”
How often do you find items you want to buy on the second day of a sale?
“I mostly buy things on the first day,” says Staley. “That doesn’t mean you can’t buy things on the second day when things are half price, but a lot will be gone, especially with what I was saying about it being pretty competitive.”
