Who is Kate Holmes and how does she know all this stuff?
The
leading expert in the resale, consignment, and thrift store industry,
Kate Holmes tells you how to open a resale shop or start a consignment
shop and be your own boss. Charitable groups whose thrift shop is a
successful fund raiser use Kate as a resource as well. She can tell you
how to write a consignment contract, how to advertise and promote your
shop, and most of all, how to make your shop profitable. Interested in
opening a children's resale shop, a designer consignment shop, or a
furniture shop? Kate's the professional expert when you want resale
education and free reports as well as Products for the Professional
Resaler. The only real-life consignment shop owner and complete operations manual author, Kate is committed to helping store owners and managers succeed.
Kate Holmes, author of Too Good to be Threw
: The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops, founded One More Time, a consignment shop in Columbus Ohio, in 1975. Now, through Too Good to be Threw, Kate continues to market a wide variety of booklets, pamphlets, and store selling aids.One More Time, Kate's shop, was an immediate and consistent success. Having grown up in the consignment business, Kate used her experience to start her shop with less than $1000. One More Time was profitable within six weeks of opening. From its first day's sales of $31.90, the shop grew from 750 square feet to 3200, adding 1,000 consignors each and every year. OMT now continues its growth under the watchful eyes of a Too Good to be Threw-trained owner.
The original edition of Too Good to be Threw: The Complete Operations Manual for Consignment Shops was published over 20 years ago. Continually revised and updated, information and resources constantly updated, Kate is proud to offer the most complete revision ever of Too Good to be Threw, The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops. TGtbT is the only operations manual written by a real-life resale shopkeeper!
Kate is always busy, writing and blogging, creating new and helpful Products for the Professional Resaler, speaking to resale groups and serving as an industry consultant. In addition, she is closely involved, and has been for over 20 years, in the success of the National Association of Resale & Thrift Shops. Kate is a past Education Chair, director, and fervent supporter of that Association. She was awarded their first-ever Educational Service Award in recognition of significant commitment to enhance and enrich industry education. She has also been presented with the industry's highest honor, the Renee River Award, for outstanding service. Most recently she was honored with a lifetime membership.
Kate appears frequently in the media as
an expert on resale, small business, and retail. She currently
volunteers as Merchandiser and Communications Specialist at Woman's Exchange, Sarasota FL,
a not-for-profit consignment shop. She is also active in historic
preservation efforts.
Kate's
free time is taken up
with watercolor painting and fiction writing. She's the author of The Picker Who
Perished/ A Too Good to be Threw Consignment Shop Mystery
Reach Kate Holmes of TGtbT.com by email at Kate(at)TGtbT.com (replace (at) with the @ symbol), phone 941-924-4142, or by mail at 4736 Meadowview Blvd., Sarasota FL 34233. Our Privacy Policy.
Thanks
to the
Angels of Too Good to be Threw:
True
supporters of the Resale Industry
TGtbT.com has had the help, over many years, of some wonderful,
giving, kind people. It has been thanks to their professional help
that I have been able to keep TGtbT commercial-free, and they
deserve all the acclaim I can heap upon them! Here's
just a
few of them:
Cynthia Broockman of The
White Elephant:
Cynthia (on the right) and her sister Leslie own and operate two consignment shops
and a charitable shop in Virginia. Cynthia talking about our
consumer-oriented site, HowToConsign.com:
"There IS no other place to get your name
out there in front of the public. [We're] a Treasured Sponsor at
How to Consign and frequent user of TGTBT's site. We get lots of
new subscribers every month and hits on our website are way up.
"For all those shopkeepers out there
who wonder whether your products are really necessary or listing
their business on How To Consign is really worth it, please
tell them YES from us! In fact, your manual, products and
creation/ maintenance of these two sites and the Sharing forum is responsible,
in large part, for our business being what it is today. Almost
20 years from when we learned of you and what you are doing -
we're still thriving.
"In fact, my sister and I are so grateful and feel so strongly
about supporting what you have been trying to do, we'd like to put
our money where our mouths (and eyeballs on the net) are. Is
it possible for us to sponsor..."
Sarah Deveau of Catertot: 
Sarah
was, in a former life, a whiz at public relations. Now, she uses her
talents to highlight her store. She has very generously written, for
TGtbT visitors, a Product for Professional Resalers, Grabbing
Their Attention: How to Make the Media Love You. The
profits from the sale of this PDQ are applied to the costs of
TGtbT.com. (Besides, Sarah's first daughter is named Kate. Thus, the
name of her shop, and the fact that she can do no wrong in my
opinion.)
Deb Mathews of DesignsbyDeb.us:
A
former consignment shop owner, Deb now works on designing, maintaining, and upgrading
web sites for many clients, including (naturally!) resale shops. Not
only does Deb know resale, but she is an avid web master, and can
design a site as simple or as elaborate as you wish.
Deb has always been my "ace in the hole" when I can't fix
something on TGtbT.com or HowToConsign.com! Deb can be
counted on for clear, concise explanations of Internet gobbledygook
on Sharing and in personal communication with her clients.
Adele Meyer, Executive Director of NARTS:
Adele and I have been friends for over 20 years, dating back to when
we both had our consignment shops. As you know, I've "retired" into being the "Resale Guru" here on
the web, and Adele has "retired" into the Executive
Directorship of the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops,
our industry's association that I had the pleasure of serving for
many years. Adele and I together and separately strive to improve
every resale/ consignment/ thrift shop everywhere, believing that
the better each shop is, the better we all do!
A big shout-out, as well, to the faithful Sharers, the Sponsors over at HowToConsign.com, participants on the blog, fellow NARTS members, and the Flamingoettes Past & Future. And I would be remiss not to thank these invaluable Internet resources: Picnik.com, grsites.com, Dynamicdrive.com, 2createawebsite.com, w3schools.com, and (really!) 171 other sites who've helped me with this one.
