Is Vending at an Antique Mall Worth It? | How Much Vendors REALLY Make

Have you ever wondered how much a vendor makes selling at these showcases [music] at antique mall and what sells the best? Then you've come to the right place. >> You can choose resale. >> This is the Outer Loop Pillars Mall. This is the Hillview Pillars Mall. This is the South Louisville Antique and Toy Mall. This is the Middletown Pillars Mall. This is Vendor Village in Clarksville, Indiana. This is the Clarksville Pillars Mall. I'm pick and choose resale. I'm a full-time reseller. I set up all these locations to sell video games. Today, we're going to talk a lot about the sales and the revenue that I make each month out of these locations. And we're also going to talk a little bit about why each location performs a little differently. Stay tuned to find out why. Right now, I'm at a Pellers Mall in Louisville, Kentucky. And I'm actually a vendor here. I want to answer one big question a lot of people ask me is, is it worth vending at these Pellers Mall? And how much am I actually making? I'm going to break down the numbers for you guys today and let you decide, is it worth it or not? >> I used to have several booths. In total, at my prime, I had five booths just like this and 19 showcases. But over time, it just became too hard to manage as one person. So I've dwindled it down to six locations and only 12 showcases in total. The booth's just too much time to organize each time I came around. So I like efficiency. So this is what I do now. I only do showcases just like this. This is one of my showcases here at the Aloop Pillars Mall. First glance, it looks like my case is still pretty full. But in fact, a lot of things I've actually sewn as you can see by the empty spots right there and down here, which used to be stacked with consoles. I actually have two showcases here. And here is my second one right here. This was mostly video games, amiios, and consoles. Reason I like vending at these locations is because it's pretty hands-off and semi-passive. All I have to do is price those items and then put those in the showcases. One cool thing about Pillars Mall here in Kentucky is that they have this one website. I can see every item that's sold individually on that website between all my locations, which is super cool. How does spending at a location like this actually work? Each showcase is $65 per month. In addition to that, they charge an 8% commission, which is not too bad. Reason I like vending here at these locations is because I can sell lower dollar items that's harder to sell on eBay. Items in like the $15$20 range is not worth it to sell on eBay. But for these locations, they can fly off the shelves pretty quickly. Another question is how do I price things? I pric things pretty much based off of price charting. Sometimes I price a bit lower. A lot of discounted items as well and with people can also call to make an offer on things over $50. Now the question is how much did I actually make or sell at this location? I sold $828 for this month of the month of December. To be honest, that does sound a little bit low, but think about the time I have invested in it, less than an hour, and [music] employees are doing most of the work for me, which is great. And one cool thing about this is I don't pay for the employees. The company Pedler Small pays the employees based off all the commission and the rent, and that's part of their expenses, not my expense. And to be honest, $828, I can make that within a 1-hour show and whatnot. The reason I like it here though is because if I were to sell these items and whatnot, I want to get maximum profit. I would get pretty low. You know, if the bids might not go up as high, but here it's a set price. People come and shop on their own leisure and I don't have to be a hype man on a live camera. The thing is that not all the locations perform the same way. So, let's go check out our other locations. As you can see, people sell all sorts of stuff here at the Peders Mall between tools, DVD, medias, and clothing. But here, let me show you my showcases here at the Hillview Pillars Mall. As you can see, there's a lot more empty spaces in these showcases cuz a lot more have sold at this location. This specific location fluctuates between being my top performer or second top performer every month in terms of sales. One thing people don't realize as much about vending at Pellers Mall is that location matters. The quality of stuff you put in there. And also lastly is the time of month or time of year matters quite a bit. For instance, in February I sold $1,800 worth of items, but this month I only sold $1,200 worth of items, which is still significantly higher than my other locations. One thing to learn about vending is also what people like at each location. So this specific location, I feel like there's a lot more collectors. So, I put more collectible items, a lot more video games in in these showcases. And it looks like a bunch of my consoles have sold for the holidays. So, that's super exciting. Everybody has a different strategy selling at the Pillars Mall, but I like to price things fairly because I actually intend to sell them. This $1,200 in sales is actually already deducting all the commission fees of 8% and also the rent, but not yet deducting the cost of goods. Now, after hearing the sales between both locations of $800 and 1,200, I'm at about $2,000 in total sales already between these two locations. We'll wait till the end to see how much between all six locations I'm actually making per month. One thing people don't realize about vetting at a location like this is sometimes you do get returns. For instance, this month we got a Nintendo Gamecube return. Even though I did test it in July, it looks like somebody went home to try to play one of their games and it says and they returned for the issue that it wasn't reading games. It could be a few issues. It could be that their games are kind of scratched. Typically, people return things because of user error because all my consoles are tested before I put them in the shelf. Even before I price them and bring them out here, they are all tested. So, it is pretty rare for me to get any returns during the month. Typically, I get maybe one upwards of two returns per month. So, the next step for this would be for me to go home and double check and retest this again. Now, let's head to our next location. Right now, I'm at the South Louisville Antique and Toy Ball in Louisville, Kentucky. Check it out. >> This store is actually super different than all my other Pelis Mall location because this specific store is a toy mall. A lot of vendors here are curating their showcases just full of awesome toys and collectibles. You just never know what you're going to find here. And a lot of people are running sales as well. Shout out to Froggy Flips cuz I think this is one of his favorite locations to visit while he's in town here in Wul. But the reason you're watching this is cuz you want to find out how much am I actually making out of these locations. At my prime here, I had five showcases producing about $1,000 to $1,500 per month. But it was just too hard for me to manage all these locations and keep up with inventory. So, I've ded it down to just one showcase. Let me go and show you. >> This is my showcase right here. It's pretty close to the hallway by the bathroom. As you can see, I've curated to just selling mostly action figures and a few select video games cuz I know this is actually just a toy mall. And it's kind of different than the other Pillars locations. One way that I know I've made sales is by seeing all these empty spaces up there and also down there. A few of my top sellers here are Legos, Hot Wheels, and action figures. I don't quite have an eye for toys, but I'm still learning the market of what sells. And one way to do product research is just by walking around to see what other people are selling and at what price point. And you just never know what you're going to find. What awesome collectibles or pieces are people putting in their showcases. >> Thank you guys. >> Have a good day. >> As I walk around the store, I'm also doing product research. I'm looking at what people are selling to keep an eye out for those things at yard sales. Unfortunately, this is one of my lower performing locations. This month alone, I only sold $115, which is not too bad. Right here is about 50 60 bucks. But again, is it worth my time? I think if I could consistently source more toys at a larger volume, I might be able to expand my showcase presence here at this toy mall. Because my low level of expertise in toys, I think this one showcases enough for me to handle. So, between these three locations, my total revenue or sales is at $2,100. Let's keep going, which is honestly not too bad so far. But up next, we're going to hit our best performing location, which has a 5-year wait list for any upcoming vendors. Right now, I'm at the Middletown Pillars Mall. Let's go ahead and check out my showcases. Like I said, I used to have a couple booths, but they're so hard to manage. And let me show you why. This is a great example of why I no longer sell toys in a booth just because every time you come in, there's a lot of kids or shoppers don't put things back and it's all over the floor and it makes the shopping experience for the next person really difficult. Could I ask you a question? How long is the wait list to be a vendor here? 10 years? No. I thought it was five or seven years. It's 10 years. But why is that the case though? Other places that have a pretty quick turnaround. Why is this one so special? >> No. But once people get in here, they don't leave. >> Yeah. So they stay for a long time cuz it's good sales, right? >> Yeah. And everybody for some reason wants to be in Middletown. >> All right, everybody. That was Becky. She's one of the star employees here at Middletown Pillars Mall. As you heard from her, it's a 10-year wait list to be a vendor here at Meadowtown Pillars Mall. That's insane. Even though the wait list is 10 years, I think it's still worth it to put your name on the list and wait it out because once you get in, you're going to see why. Speaking of getting into a location, I was just talking to the manager and she said the easiest location to get into is Outer Loop Pillars Mall, the first location we were at. All right, let's chat a little bit about why is Middletown so special. As you may have noticed, the foot traffic here has a notable difference in other stores. And the reason I think this store does so well is because it's in a nicer part of town. Like I was saying in other locations, the location definitely matters. This location here in Middletown is actually in an upl part of town. So I think a lot of shoppers come through here shopping for estate sale finds or antique stuff. But again, I'm selling mostly video games and toys. I think there's enough families here who swing by to buy those sorts of things. Like I said, this is my best selling location. Just check how empty the showcase is already. The best sellers for this location are Pokemon stuff like Pokemon plushes or toys and some video games. The bottom two rows are full of plushes, and as you can see, it's been pretty much wiped out. This middle row has mostly vintage video games that are complete in boxed collector stuff. I might have to move this into a different location to see if it sells better. Up here are also Barbies. As you can see, it used to be completely packed, but now it's pretty much half empty along with the row of Funko Pops. This store location this month produced $1,200 in sales. So, pretty much the same as Hillview Colors Mall. After hearing that number, you can kind of understand why I feel like Hillview and Middletown are like my twins. They're produced pretty much the same and they sell about the same quality and style of items. But wait till you see our next stop, which is Bender Village in Clarksville, Indiana. So, with a monthly sales of $1,200, it puts our total at $3,300. But we've got two more locations to hit up. One's our largest location, another one is a pretty small location. We're going to see what is our total monthly sales from December. This is Vendor Village in Clarksville, Indiana. Right now I'm at Bender's Village here in Clarksville, Indiana. And let's go ahead and check out my showcases. This is actually where I started it all. I first moved to this area back in 2018. I realized that there were these antique and flea market indoor malls that were running 7 days a week. And I thought to myself, that might be a pretty good place to sell cuz I was so used to selling on eBay already. But I'll be honest, I was pretty skeptical about how much it will make each month in sales, especially compared to how fast things were turn around turning around on eBay. because what I would see often is a lot of people's showcases seems pretty full. It didn't seem like they were making much sales each month. So, I gave it a try anyways and started my first showcases in February of 2018. And since then, there's definitely been its highs and it lows in terms of sales each month. But the thing I talk about on my channel is consistency. As long as I'm putting out product here and it sells, I'm going to stay here until it stops selling. And when things don't work out, you learn to adjust. But let's talk a little bit about numbers here at this location. slow months as sales are typically range between $2 to $3,000 and in my peak I made $10,000 a month selling here with 12 showcases and five booths. That was extremely high. But on average it's about $2 to $3,000 per month. Rent here is a little different than the Pedler's Mall cuz Vendage Village is a totally different company owned by different people. I'm only at one location cuz all the locations are about an hour and a half or two hours away. This is not sustainable for me right now. I only have five showcases full of video games and toys and collectibles. Other people here sell toys or electronics, strange things like this, this one right here. But one thing that makes this location a lot different than Pellers Mall, especially in Middletown, is that they have a really high turnover rate here. So, if you're looking to vent at a location, Vendor's Village or Outer Pillars Mall would be the best location to get started. Even though it doesn't look like I have so much out of my showcases, my total sales this month has been $2,800. There's a few empty spots, as you can see behind the switch and down here where there's empty spots where things have actually sold. And you'll be surprised at how much inventory actually moves through these showcases each month. Now that you know all the numbers between all these locations, we have one more small location right across the street, Clarksville Pellers Mall. After that, we're going to hold up all of our sales and I'll let you guys decide, is it worth being a flea market vendor here or not? Right now, I'm walking into the Clarksville Pers Mall and we're going to go ahead and check out my showcase just to see what it looks like. As you can see, my showcase here is pretty empty and bare. It's not that because a lot of things have sold. It's because I haven't managed it in about a month and a half. This month, I only sold $100 out of the showcase. So, again, this is kind of tied in the last place with South by Taking Toy Mall. There are a lot of other video game competitors here as well in this location. There's a lot of anime, Funko Pops, Pokémon cards, and [music] video games here, especially down this aisle of showcases. As you can see, there's probably at least 10 showcases full of these video game vendors. We've even got the Laboos. We've got these fake retro games consoles. A lot of Pokemon cards. These prices are quite insane. Charging 100 bucks for that. And up there as well, guys. But here's another one that's really cool. This guy has really good quality games. This, for an example, Mario Party, you've got Pokemon Stadium. He has really good games. But look, Pokemon Blue at 75 and yellow at 80. A little bit high in my opinion, but he still makes decent sales apparently. Even though I'm not producing that much of sales here at this location, I think it's still worth it. Just like I talked about in South Antique and Toy Mall, it's harder to get in than to stay in. That makes sense to you. If I were to leave this location with zero attachments, it's going to be really hard and be put on the wait list to get back in. As long as I'm not owing rent, I'm going to just keep staying with that extra $100 attached to our monthly revenue. It makes our monthly total to be a little over $5,000. But again, you have to keep in mind that's revenue and sales not yet accounting for the cost of goods. So my potential profit margin is about 30 40%. So calculating that in our annual sales or revenue from out of these all six locations about $50,000. So minusing cost of goods and calculating the percentage of profit. So after that, what do you guys think? Is it worth it to be a video game vendor or vendor here at these antique malls? Let me know in the comments below. And if you haven't already, please like and subscribe to our channel, Pick and Choose Resale. >> [music]

I’m currently a vendor at 6 local antique mall locations, and I’ve been doing this since 2018. In this video, I break down exactly what I’ve learned over the years—and how much money I actually make each month as an antique mall vendor. I mainly sell video games and collectibles, and I’ll explain what works (and what doesn’t) when vending these items in antique malls. I’ll cover the biggest LESSONS that determine success: --LOCATION matters (not all antique malls perform the same) --QUALITY of items matters (junk doesn’t move) --PRICING fairly is everything if you actually want items to sell --Each location performs very differently. Some booths bring in as little as $100 per month, while others generate nearly $3,000 per month. When you total everything across all locations, it adds up to a solid monthly paycheck. Across all my antique mall booths, I average $50k–$65k per year in total sales. If you’ve ever wondered whether renting a booth at an antique mall is worth it, this video will help you decide if vending makes sense for you. 👉 After seeing the real numbers… do YOU think it’s worth it? #antiquemall #antiquemallvendor #antiquemallreseller #resellerlife #reselling #videogamereseller #videogamesforsale #retrogames #collectibles #flipping #sidehustle #fulltimereseller #ebayseller #fleafinds #gamingcollectibles #peddlersmall #vendorsvillage #fleamarket