How is resale adapting in the age of e-commerce?
In my recent experience I keep observing a recurring theme: industrial neighborhoods with concentrations of second-hand furniture and antiques merchants. Another recurring theme is that these neighborhoods are changing from being predominantly industrial to mixed-use neighborhoods and people are concerned that this will eventually displace these merchants. Is there a way they might they be retained?
1. Beacon’s Closet has 4 different locations across Brooklyn and Manhattan. Each store has a sizable and constantly changing inventory, meaning maintaining an online directory of products is challenging. However, a visit to their website evidences an online marketplace with a carefully curated selection. The listing is not comprehensive, but what is offered is beautifully staged with multiple photographs of the product and informative descriptions. They even give each individual product its own unique nickname in an effort to cultivate a sense of rare exclusivity. Items are also marketed through their Instagram account, contextualizing them in a way the staged photographs do not.