Garage sales affected by rising prices

By PABLO ROS, Tribune Staff Writer

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By Tiffany Griffin

Story Created: Jun 9, 2008 at 6:29 AM EST

Story Updated: Jun 9, 2008 at 6:55 AM EST

At garage sales in South Bend Saturday, it was the rising tide in market prices that seemed to wash some buyers ashore driveways while keeping others afloat.

Jim Choinacky of Granger said he and his wife expect to make fewer annual trips this summer to the beaches in New Buffalo and St. Joseph, and more to nearby garage sales where they can stroll leisurely for, among other things, 1950s antiques.

Choinacky, who was at a sale on McKinley Avenue near the corner of Twyckenham Drive, said rising gas prices have discouraged them from making the trip.

Another garage sale shopper, Raymond Frazier of South Bend, said he wasn’t looking for anything in particular but might seek to make a few bucks should he find something he thinks he can resell. He said he was recently laid off from a factory job, and that he and his wife now subsist on breeding Cocker Spaniels.

Audrey Pfaff of South Bend said rising prices were a reason she ventured to garage sales in a quiet subdivision off Ireland Road, buying shoes for herself and clothes for her two-year-old daughter.

“Everything has gone up,” she said.

But some garage sale vendors said rising prices also seemed to be having the opposite effect.

Denisse Hernandez of South Bend said she’d had fewer buyers at a garage sale in her West Side home than in previous years. The few who had arrived Saturday morning had purchased pots and furniture items instead of toys or books.

“People seem to be more selective this year,” she said. “They seem to be looking for things they need.”

Hernandez said she suspects people are spending less money this year, even at garage sales, because of rising prices. She said her own family has cut down on expenses, even food.

Yadira Castillo of South Bend and her family also said they had seen fewer buyers this year at their garage sale. They suspect rising prices are in part to blame, as people spend on necessities only.

Castillo said she recently moved in with her parents after leasing her home, and that she works two jobs to feed her three children. She said she and her siblings put together a collection of their and their children’s old belongings — including toys, clothes, bicycles and a microwave — to benefit their elderly parents.

Castillo’s father, Jose Hernandez, said he would use the proceeds from his family’s garage sale to settle late bill payments.

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